Shahbaz Taseer, son of a slain Punjab governor who was freed in March after over four years in militant captivity, has received a signed jersey from Manchester United after revealing that listening to their matches kept him “sane” during his five years in captivity.
On Saturday, he tweeted a picture of himself wearing the famous red shirt.
“OMG @ManUtd just sent me this!!!,” he wrote. “I´m in shock! Thank you boys!” he added, expressing his gratitude to the squad members who signed the shirt.
OMG @ManUtd just sent me this!!! pic.twitter.com/ZJPOvNUdJr
— Shahbaz Taseer (@ShahbazTaseer) June 11, 2016
He went on to add the club did not send him the jersey out of the blue; in fact ,it was his sister-in-law who told them about him.
After his release, Shahbaz described how he survived four-and-a-half years in captivity, revealing how listening to soccer games was his only contact with the outside world.
“One of my guards, like myself, was a Manchester United fan, and every other week he would sneak a radio into my cell and we would listen to soccer games,” he wrote in The New York Times.
“For me, it was a window to the outside world. Getting soccer news kept me sane. ‘You must surely be the only United fan in this position,’ I would tell myself. They are playing and winning for you,” he added.
