A Christian lawyer in Pakistan has been warned she will be killed if she does not stop defending people accused of blasphemy against Islam.

Jacqueline Sultan has also been warned that if she wants to stay alive, she must stop helping Christians and other minorities who have been forced to convert to Islam and to marry Muslims. 

She has advised the police and the Karachi Bar Association and other authorities of the threat to her life. The association is calling on the police to investigate and to provide security to protect the lawyer.

Sultan, who heads United Alliance Global Human Rights, is just the latest prominent Christian in Pakistan who is being threatened for standing up for her faith. According to the charity Open Doors, Pakistan is at number four on the list of countries where Christians are most severely persecuted.

Sultan, a member of the Karachi Bar Council, found the letter in her chambers in Karachi, Christians in Pakistan reported.

The Alliance reports that Sultan had been advocating for the rights of minorities and raising her voice against forced conversions of girls from minority communities. In the letter she was warned 'not to pursue struggle for the rights of minorities' or else she would be killed. 

Other recent incidents of attacks on Christians reported by the Alliance include a young Christian sanitation worker gunned down in Pakistan in March for refusing a prominent Muslim's order to clean his outhouse on his day off.

Noman Munir Masih, 20, of Sheikhupura in Punjab Province, whose father died two years ago, was the main breadwinner for his Pentecostal family. His mother, three sisters and two brothers survive him.