Death Sentence Overturned for Christian Woman Accused of ‘Blasphemy’ in Pakistan
Pakistan’s Supreme Court acquitted Asiya Bibi, a Christian woman, of charges of “blasphemy” against the Prophet of Islam and ordered the annulment of her death sentence and her immediate release. The “Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan” party has threatened severe retaliation.
Taqib Nasir, a senior judge of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, stated that the death sentence against the Catholic Christian woman who had been condemned to execution on charges of “blasphemy” and “insult” to the Prophet of Islam has been overturned.
Pakistani media reported on Wednesday, November 9 (October 31), that the Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of Asiya Bibi, a mother of five children.
The Supreme Court stated that the prosecution failed to clarify the ambiguities in the case and prove the charges. For this reason, and given the contradictory statements of the court’s eyewitness testimonies, the court ultimately ruled in favor of the requests of the woman’s lawyers, who had sought her immediate release.
The appellate court hearing was held in Islamabad on October 8, but the court postponed decision-making and announcement of the final verdict to an unspecified date.
Asiya Bibi was accused of “blasphemy” in 2009 as the first Catholic woman and was sentenced to death in 2010. Her sentence was confirmed in 2014 by a court in Lahore. In July 2015, an order was issued to temporarily suspend the sentence.
Last year, the court repeatedly postponed the appeal of this sentence. Pakistani media say the reason for this delay was threats against judges by extremist Islamists.
It is said that Asiya Bibi, during an argument and dispute, apparently committed “blasphemy” (insult) against the Prophet of Islam. Blasphemy in Pakistan’s laws, which are based on Islamic law, is considered a serious crime. The definition of blasphemy within this framework refers to statements or actions insulting Islam, the Quran, and Prophet Muhammad.
On Tuesday evening, after the extremist Islamist party “Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan” (TLP) called for Asiya Bibi’s quick execution and accused the Supreme Court judges of “surrendering” to pressure from “anti-Pakistani” forces in Western countries, Islamabad was placed under strict security measures.
The aforementioned party threatened just hours after Asiya Bibi was acquitted of the charges that it would “paralyze the entire country.”
The TLP party in the fall of 2017, after describing changes in the oath of members of the Pakistani parliament as “un-Islamic,” paralyzed life in Islamabad for three weeks with its protests. In May 2018, the then interior minister of Pakistan was also targeted in a terrorist attack by one of the party’s members, though he survived.
Source: DW
