ZCZC
BFF-60
PAKISTAN-RELIGION-BLASPHEMY-BIBI-LEAD
Pakistan Christian in last appeal on blasphemy death sentence
ISLAMABAD, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistan’s Supreme Court said it had
reached a judgement Monday after hearing the final appeal of a Christian
mother on death row for blasphemy, but that it will announce its ruling later
in the notorious case, which has gone all the way to the Vatican.
Chief Justice Saqib Nisar did not say when the three-member bench would
reveal the fate of Asia Bibi — a mother-of-five who has been on death row
since 2010 and could become the first person in Pakistan to be executed under
the controversial blasphemy laws.
He said the delay was “for reasons to be recorded later”, and told media
they could not publish comments on the inflammatory case.
Bibi’s is the most high-profile blasphemy case in deeply conservative
Muslim Pakistan, where the accusation is so explosive that anyone even
accused of insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of
vigilantes.
Her plight has drawn attention from international rights groups. Pope
Benedict XVI joined in calls for her release in 2010, while in 2015 her
daughter met with Pope Francis, who as the head of the Catholic Church
offered prayers for her mother.
If the court upholds Bibi’s sentence, her only recourse will be a direct
appeal to the president for clemency.
President Arif Alvi is a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who
launched a wholehearted defence of the blasphemy laws during his election
campaign earlier this year, vowing his party “fully” supports the legislation
and “will defend it”.
Rights activists have warned that carrying the sentence out would be
appeasement of populist extremists and a huge blow for minorities, who
already face pervasive discrimination.
Freedom in Pakistan, however, means a life under threat by vigilantes and
hardliners, who regularly hold demonstrations calling for Bibi’s execution.
Many took to Twitter and other social media Monday to repeat the call.
The allegations against Bibi date back to 2009, when she was working in a
field and was asked to fetch water. Muslim women she was labouring with
allegedly objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the
water bowl.
The women went to a local cleric and accused Bibi of blasphemy against the
Prophet Mohammed, a charge punishable by death under the colonial-era
legislation.
On Monday the justices appeared to question the case against her, with
Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, a renowned expert in criminal law, listing
flaws in the proceedings.
“I don’t see any derogatory remarks vis a vis the holy Koran as per the
FIR,” added Chief Justice Nisar, referring to the initial complaint filed in
the case.
– Censorship, persecution, murder –
Approximately 40 people are believed to be on death row or serving a life
sentence in Pakistan for blasphemy, according to a 2018 report by the United
States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
International rights groups have long criticised the legislation, saying it
is routinely abused to settle personal vendettas.
The European Union parliament in 2010 warned it has been used to justify
censorship, persecution, and even murder of minorities. In recent years, it
has also been weaponised to smear dissenters and politicians.
Mere calls to reform the law have provoked violence, most notably the
assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s most populous
province, by his own bodyguard in 2011.
Taseer had also called for Bibi’s release. His sons Shaan and Shahbaz, who
himself was held prisoner by the Taliban for nearly five years, were among
those tweeting their support for her Monday.
But Taseer’s assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, executed in 2016, was feted as a hero
by hardliners, with his hanging provoking Islamist fury.
Politicians including Imran Khan invoked blasphemy during the general
election earlier this year, with analysts warning the tactic could deepen
sectarian fractures and potentially spill into violence.
BSS/AFP/RY/1935 hrs