The little hero

Iqbal Masih was gunned down by an assassin in cold blood. He was just 13 years old. Andrew Crofts, the bestselling ghostwriter of "The Little Prisoner and The Kid", tells the heart-wrenching story of this courageous child martyr, who died trying to end child slavery. After six years of bonded labour in a Pakistani carpet factory, Iqbal escaped the clutches of his tyrannical carpet-master, and then tirelessly worked to spread the word to other enslaved children that they could be free too. He addressed international conventions on behalf of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front and participated in raids on illegal factories. He was awarded the Reebok 'Youth in Action' Award, and a scholarship to study law in Boston. But before he could study, his life was cut short by a hail of bullets from the gun of an unknown sympathiser with the carpet-masters.