Will This Christian Woman Hang for Taking a Sip of Water?
It was June 14, 2009. A Sunday. It was hot and falsa berry season was in full swing. Asia Bibi decided to pick berries in a local field in exchange for 250 rupees — enough to buy flour to feed her family for a week, she recorded in a memoir about her ordeal.
It was backbreaking work, and when Asia took a sip of water from a well, the women she was laboring with refused to drink from the same source. Asia is a Christian, and the Muslim women insisted that the well was unclean after she drank from it.
An argument ensued, and the women accused Asia of blasphemy against the Islamic prophet Muhammad — an umbrella charge in Pakistan under which anyone can be accused of crime. Asia has consistently maintained her innocence.
A trial was held, and Asia was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to hang in 2010. There have been appeals through the years, but the judgment stood. In the meantime, Asia has been kept in solitary confinement in a cell so small her arms can span wall to wall.
Thursday, the Supreme Court of Pakistan will make a final ruling on Asia’s execution. Her torturous, nearly seven-year purgatory will finally come to an end. But will her life?
The German Deutsche Welle reports that “[l]egally, the judges have very little room under the blasphemy law to overturn their 2010 decision” to execute Asia, and that the “issue is no longer only religious; it is a sensitive political matter now.”
Two prominent, politically-connected men in Pakistan have been murdered for speaking publicly in defense of Asia —Salman Tasser (the former governor of Punjab and a Muslim) and Shahbaz Bhatti (former minority affairs minister, who served as the sole Christian in Pakistan’s cabinet). And a mullah previously put forth a reward for Asia’s murder.
There are voices all over the world — from Pope Francis to the European Parliament to hundreds of thousands of people in the online community — pleading with Pakistan’s government to spare Asia’s life and allow her to go back to her husband and five children. The mayor of Paris even offered refuge for her and the family.
Congressman Joe Pitts, R-Penn. (F, 52%) introduced a resolution to make the State Department prioritize the repeal of global blasphemy laws, noting that Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt sanction “particularly severe violations of religious freedom[.]” It never was brought up for a vote on the House floor.
Perhaps intense global pressure could sway the minds of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Perhaps the justices fear the potentially deadly repercussions for freeing a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
If the 2010 judgment holds and Asia Bibi is hanged, she will be the first person executed by the Pakistani government for blasphemy laws.
As people around the world await to hear Asia Bibi’s fate, the least we can do is offer up a prayer for her and her family. As Asia tells the world in her memoir:
“I’m asking you for help. Please don’t forget about me. I need you.” (For more from the author of “Will This Christian Woman Hang for Taking a Sip of Water?” please click HERE)
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