Christians have been urged to pray ahead of today’s Supreme Court appeal in Pakistan by Christian mother Asia Bibi who faces the death penalty after being convicted of blasphemy.
Ms Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010 after allegations she insulted the prophet Muhammad in a dispute with Muslim women over drinking water.
UK-based organisation Release International, which advocates for persecuted Christians around the world, is among many voices calling for the death sentence to be revoked, Ms Bibi released and Pakistan’s blasphemy law to be repealed.
Paul Robinson, the organisation’s chief executive, said the law has been “abused” to target individuals and destroy lives.
“These laws are used to fan the flames of violent persecution,” he said. “They are invoked to devastate lives and stir up extremism. Merely to accuse a person of blasphemy can be to pass a sentence of death…We urge Pakistan to reject extremism and violent persecution. Show mercy to Asia, set her free and guarantee her and her family’s protection. For the future peace of this great nation, Pakistan must repeal these much-abused laws.”
Mr Robinson said that even if Ms Bibi is released she and her family will be in danger and cites figures from the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad which show that since 1990, 52 people have been extra-judicially murdered for being implicated in blasphemy charges.
He urged people to “redouble your prayers for Asia, her family and for the nation of Pakistan”.
Release has launched a petition calling on the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, to repeal the nation’s blasphemy laws.
In Australia, Lyle Shelton, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, urged the Australian Government to speak up about “the lack of religious freedom and the persecution of Christians in Pakistan” and said the $47 million Australia gives in aid to Pakistan should be “contingent upon the country providing religious freedom to religious minorities, including its 10 million Christians”.
“Asia Bibi has been languishing in prison for seven years as the appeal of her death sentence has wound its way through the Pakistani judicial system,” he said. “That anyone could be sentenced to death for an alleged blasphemy in a supposedly moderate Islamic State would be a shock to most Australians. That we give aid to Pakistan and allow its sporting teams to compete here while it has a system of religious apartheid is doubly shocking.”
Asia Bibi’s case is linked to the assassination in January, 2011, of Punjab’s Governor Salmaan Taseer, who was shot dead by one of his bodyguards after he had publicly lobbied for her to be pardoned and had criticised blasphemy laws.
~ www.change.org/p/prime-minister-nawaz-sharif-repeal-pakistan-s-blasphemy-laws
~ www.release.org
~ www.acl.org.au
