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Pakistan rejects challenge against Asia Bibi acquittal
ISLAMABAD, Jan 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected
Tuesday a challenge against its decision to acquit Asia Bibi, lifting the
last legal hurdle in the years-long blasphemy case and potentially paving the
way for the Christian mother to leave the country.
“Based on merit, this review petition is dismissed,” Chief Justice Asif
Saeed Khosa told a hearing at Pakistan’s highest court, which overturned
Bibi’s death sentence for blasphemy last year.
The ruling ignited immediate calls from activists to allow her to leave
the country, where she remains a prime target with the government refusing to
reveal her whereabouts and Islamist extremists calling for her murder.
Speculation is rampant that she will seek asylum in a European or North
American country, and unconfirmed Pakistani reports claim her children have
already fled to Canada.
“She should now be free to reunite with her family and seek safety in a
country of her choice,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010 in what swiftly became Pakistan’s most
infamous blasphemy case.
The Supreme Court overturned her conviction last year, sparking days of
violent demonstrations with enraged extremists calling for her beheading.
Authorities struck a deal to end the violence which included allowing the
petition seeking an appeal against the Supreme Court’s judgement.
Earlier Tuesday the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) party, which led
violent protests demanding Bibi’s execution after her acquittal, called for
its members to be ready for action in a message sent to journalists.
But most of its leaders remain in detention after a government crackdown,
and few protesters could be seen at the court in Islamabad, where security
appeared as normal.
That did not prevent those who did show up for the hearing from calling
for violence against Bibi prior to the court’s ruling, however.
“She deserves to be murdered according to Shariah,” Hafiz Ehtisham Ahmed,
an Islamist activist linked to the extremist Red Mosque in Islamabad, told
AFP.
Bibi will not be safe even if she leaves the country, he warned. “If she
goes abroad, don’t Muslims live there? If she goes out of Pakistan… anybody
can kill her there.”
– ‘Frivolous’ –
Bibi’s lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook, who returned to Pakistan over the weekend
after spending weeks abroad in the wake of his client’s acquittal, dismissed
the petition as “frivolous” as he walked into the court.
The three-member bench hearing the petition was be headed by new Chief
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa — considered the country’s top expert in criminal
law — who helped draft the decision to acquit Bibi.
Blasphemy remains a massively inflammatory issue in Pakistan, where even
unproven accusations of insulting Islam can spark lynchings.
Many cases see Muslims accusing Muslims, and rights activists say
blasphemy charges are frequently used to settle personal scores.
Minorities — particularly Christians — are often caught in the
crossfire.
The allegations against Bibi date back to 2009, when Muslim women accused
her of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed, a charge punishable by death
under Pakistan law.
The accusation emerged from an argument after Bibi was asked to fetch
water while working in the fields, but the women objected to her touching the
water bowl as a non-Muslim.
Bibi has denied the charges, and her prosecution rallied international
rights groups, politicians and religious figures.
Pope Benedict XVI called for her release in 2010, while in 2015 her
daughter met his successor Pope Francis.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1634 hrs