Pakistani Catholic women's blasphemy death sentence overturned

The overturning is causing protests. Posted in America online, the Jesuit publication.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of Asia Bibi, a 47-year-old Pakistani Catholic and mother of five children who has been in prison since 2009 and was sentenced to death in November 2010 on charges of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed. She has always denied the charges and protested her innocence. Pakistan’s Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, assisted by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan, announced the verdict on Oct. 31. The chief justice read out the ruling and said Asia Bibi can be released immediately from the prison near Lahore, where she has been on death row for eight years.

It was a courageous decision by the Pakistani judges, who issued their verdict notwithstanding strong protests earlier this month, led by the extremist Islamic group Tehreek-e-Labaik, that called for Asia Bibi to be hanged for allegedly making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad during an argument with a Muslim farmworker. The protests started when it became known that the Supreme Court was reviewing her case. ...

Asia Bibi was the first woman to be condemned to death in Pakistan for blasphemy. Her death sentence was suspended in July 2015, but she has remained imprisoned in solitary confinement until today’s verdict. Her release has not yet been confirmed.

In a statement issued after the verdict, Samson Salamat, the Christian chairman of the interreligious Rawadari Tehreek (Movement for Tolerance) said, “This is a highly tense and threatening situation for religious minorities, especially for Pakistani Christians, and there is fear of persecution of Christians and attacks on their churches and other properties.” UCANews, the main Catholic news agency in Asia, reported his statement.

Mr. Salamat called on the government of Pakistan and the Supreme Court “to take notice of the threats made by [Tehreek-e-Labaik leader] Khadim Rizvi and his group prior to the announcement of the Asia Bibi verdict” and appealed “for a ban of Tehreek-e-Labaik, and all similar extremist groups who are involved in hate speech and use religion as a tool to promote violence in society.”