PICS: Christian woman's release in Pakistan sparks protests, threats

Published Oct 31, 2018

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ISLAMABAD/LAHORE - Pakistan's Supreme

Court on Wednesday freed a Christian woman from a death sentence

for blasphemy against Islam and overturned her conviction,

sparking angry protests and death threats from an ultra-Islamist

party and cheers from human rights advocates.

Asia Bibi, a mother-of-four, had been living on death row

since 2010, when she became the first woman to be sentenced to

death by hanging under Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws,

which critics say are too harsh and often misused.

She was condemned for allegedly making derogatory remarks

about Islam after neighbours objected to her drinking water from

their glass because she was not Muslim. Bibi has always denied

committing blasphemy.

The case has outraged Christians worldwide - Pope Francis

said he personally prayed for Bibi - and has been a source of

division within Pakistan, where two politicians who sought to

help Bibi were assassinated.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who headed a special three-judge

bench set up for the appeal, cited the Koran in the ruling,

writing that "tolerance is the basic principle of Islam" and

noting the religion condemns injustice and oppression.

In overturning her conviction, the ruling said the evidence

against Bibi was insufficient.

Bibi did not appear in the courtroom and her whereabouts

were a closely held secret for fear of attacks on her and her

family. Many have speculated they will be forced to leave the

country, but there was no confirmation of their plans.

Her lawyer called the court ruling "great news" for

Pakistan.

"Asia Bibi has finally been served justice," lawyer Saiful

Mulook told Reuters. "Pakistan's Supreme Court must be

appreciated that it upheld the law of the land and didn't

succumb to any pressure."

DEATH THREATS

Supporters of Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labaik

(TLP) immediately condemned Wednesday's ruling and blocked roads

in major cities, pelting police with stones in the eastern city

of Lahore.

Street protests and blockades of major roads were spreading

by mid-afternoon, paralysing parts of Islamabad, Lahore and

other cities.

One of the TLP's top leaders called for the death of Nisar,

the chief justice, and the two other judges on the panel.

"They all three deserve to be killed. Either their security

should kill them, their driver kill them, or their cook kill

them," TLP co-founder Muhammad Afzal Qadri told a protest in

Lahore.

"Whoever, who has got any access to them, kill them before

the evening."

He also called for the ouster of the new government of Prime

Minister Imran Khan and for army officers to rise up against

powerful military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who he said

"should be sacked from the army".

The TLP was founded out of a movement supporting a bodyguard

who assassinated Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer for

advocating for Bibi in 2011. Federal minister for minorities

Shahbaz Bhatti was also killed after calling for her release.

By late afternoon, two other religious movements, including

one headed by Hafiz Saeed, who has a $10 million U.S. bounty on

his head for his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks,

announced that they would also join the protests.

In November, TLP staged a crippling blockade of Islamabad

after small changes to a religious oath taken by election

candidates, which it said were tantamount to blasphemy. Seven

people were killed and more than 200 wounded in clashes with the

police and TLP's supporters only dispersed after striking a deal

with the military.

BLASPHEMY LAW CRITICISED

In February, Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, and one of her

daughters met Pope Francis shortly before Rome's ancient

Coliseum was lit in red one evening in solidarity with

persecuted Christians, and Bibi in particular.

The pope told Bibi's daughter: "I think often of your mother

and I pray for her."

Dozens of Pakistanis - including many minority Christians or

members of the Ahmadi faith - have been sentenced to death for

blasphemy in the past decade, though no one has actually been

executed.

Rights groups say the blasphemy law is exploited by

religious extremists as well as ordinary Pakistanis to settle

personal scores. The law does not clearly define blasphemy and

evidence might not be reproduced in court for fear of committing

a fresh offence.

Additionally, at least 65 people have been murdered over

blasphemy allegations since 1990, including a 23-year-old

student beaten to death on his university campus last year.

Christians make up only about 2% of Pakistan's

population and are often discriminated against.

"This is a landmark verdict," said Omar Waraich, deputy

South Asia director for Amnesty International. "The message must

go out that the blasphemy laws will no longer be used to

persecute the country's most vulnerable minorities." 

Reuters

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