By Dan Wooding, Founder of the ASSIST News Service
MULTAN, PAKISTAN (ANS – October 16, 2015)
-- Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman on death row for alleged
blasphemy, has been put in isolation over fears of attacks by vigilantes
enraged over a high-profile ruling in another blasphemy case that
moderates said struck a blow against religious extremism.
They were referring to the fact
that Pakistan's Supreme Court recently upheld the death sentence of a
bodyguard who killed a senior politician over his support for blasphemy
law reform and for Asia Bibi, the mother-of-five who is still on death
row.
Mumtaz Qadri was supposed to be guarding Punjab governor Salman Taseer in an Islamabad market in 2011 when he shot Taseer.
Shouting “God is great,” the
guard shot Taseer 27 times (it took just three or four seconds) then put
his hands up in the air and said to his fellow guards (the governor
moved with more than 20 armed men) “Don't shoot - arrest me.” They did.
According
to the BBC, Qadri claimed it was his religious duty to kill the
governor over his support for liberal reforms to blasphemy law, but was
sentenced to death.
The mother-of-five, whose
plight has prompted prayers from the Vatican, has been on death row
since she was convicted in 2010 of committing blasphemy during an
argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water.
Bibi, a Christian
mother-of-five, was sentenced to death in 2010 for insulting the Prophet
Mohammad, a charge she denies. Bibi says she was targeted after
drinking water from a vessel used by Muslim farmworkers.
The workers said it was
forbidden for a Christian to drink water from the same container and
later reported her for blasphemy, saying she had insulted the Prophet
Mohammad.
Pakistan's top court has suspended the execution of Asia Bibi, a
Catholic woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, after agreeing to hear
her appeal.
A three-judge bench on July 22 ordered a halt to the execution pending the outcome of the appeal.
Bibi was arrested in
Sheikhupura district of Punjab province in 2009 after being accused of
insulting the Prophet Mohammad, a charge she denies.
A trial court subsequently charged Bibi with blasphemy and sentenced her to death in November 2010.
After drinking the water from a vessel, Bibi was told it was forbidden for Christians to drink water from the same vessel.
Several workers complained to a cleric that she had insulted Muhammad prompting an angry mob to attack her, she says.
Bibi was put in solitary confinement last week at the women’s prison in the city of Multan, an official there told AFP.
The move came after “genuine”
threats to her life were issued in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling
that upheld the death sentence for Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of a
politician who sought blasphemy law reform in a separate, high-profile
case.
“Although, blasphemy is a
hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, the country has never executed
anyone on the charge — but anyone convicted, or even just accused, of
insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of
vigilantes,” said the AFP story.
Last year a British-Pakistani
citizen who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy was shot and
wounded by a guard at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
A Christian laborer and his
wife were also burned alive last November after being accused of
throwing pages of the Quran in the garbage.
“She (Bibi) could be killed by any inmate or even a prison guard, so we have to be careful,” a prison official told AFP.
A second official confirmed that Bibi had been isolated, adding: “We are concerned for her life.”
The second official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, also said Bibi’s health had deteriorated.
“She
was vomiting blood last month and was having difficulty walking,” the
official added. Rights activists and family sources also voiced concerns
for Bibi’s health.
“Her life is in danger because
of her health and the filthy prison conditions, and from fundamentalist
elements within the prison,” Shamaun Alfred Gill, a Christian activist
and spokesman for the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), told AFP.
He said the group had repeatedly requested Bibi be transferred to a hospital, but the requests had been rejected.
“Asia has a history of asthma
and we were told that her health condition had worsened at one time but
she was recovering now,” a source close to the prisoner’s family told
AFP.
According to one media report,
more than 1,400 cases of blasphemy were registered in Pakistan in 2014,
marking a new record for the prosecution of religious crimes in the
country amidst growing protests of abuse and arbitrary arrests of
Christians and other religious minorities.
Pakistan has some of the most
severe blasphemy laws in the world, where freedom of speech is severely
curtailed. Those guilty of “defiling the Prophet Muhammad” face the
death penalty, while life imprisonment is given for damaging the Quran.
Also “Insulting another’s religious feelings, can result in up to 10
years in jail.
Photo captions: 1) Campaigns
have been launched to free Asia Bibi. 2) Salman Taseer with Asia Bibi, a
visit that could have cost him his life. 3) Mumtaz Qadri after his
arrest. 4) Protestors calling for Asia Bibi to be freed. 5) Dan Wooding.
About
the writer: Dan Wooding, 74, is an award-winning author, broadcaster
and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents,
and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he
has been married for more than 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and
Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder
and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in
Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He is also the
author of some 45 books and has a radio show and two television programs
all based out of Orange County, California.
** You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)
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