Pakistani Christian Woman Released after Eight Years on Blasphemy Case, Protests Continue

In a groundbreaking judgment, Asia Bibi who is a Pakistani Christian woman has been finally freed after serving eight years in a prison in Pakistan. She was imprisoned on blasphemy charges. Asia Bibi also known as Asia Noreen was convicted in the year 2010 for insulting Prophet Muhammad during a conflict with her neighbors in 2009.

The group of women was harvesting fruit when a row broke out over a bucket of water. They told her that they could no longer touch it as Asia touched it earlier and her faith had made it unclean. When she was asked to convert to Islam, she made some offensive comments against Prophet Muhammad. She was later beaten up at home during which she confessed to the blasphemy. After police investigated the matter she was arrested.

Now, however, the Supreme Court says that the arrest was made on unreliable evidence and she confessed to the blasphemy in front of a crowd that was threatening to kill her. Asia Bibi herself admitted earlier that these were women who didn’t like her and intended to take revenge.

The Pakistan government is not happy with the court’s verdict and it declared that it would bar her from leaving Pakistan. It also said that it would start legal proceedings soon to prevent her from leaving Pakistan. Meanwhile, many other countries have offered Asia Bibi asylum.

Many protestors who protested the ruling earlier are hardliners and called for Asia Bibi to be hanged. One Islamist leader said all three Supreme Court judges also "deserved to be killed." When the ruling about the acquittal came about in the month of October, violent protests erupted by the Islamist movement Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP). The government fell in line with all the demands laid by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) namely not to oppose a review petition filed against the Supreme Court’s judgement and to place Bibi in the exit control list that would prevent her from leaving the country.

Asia Bibi has now been moved to another part of the country to an undisclosed location, fearing her safety. Bibi’s lawyer, Saiful Malook also fled from Pakistan to the Netherlands. He said to reporters in The Hague that UN and EU made him leave "against his wishes” and he revealed that he had received life threats even earlier. Bibi’s case had attracted outrage among Christians worldwide. The case has also led to criticism of Pakistan’s laws by various international human rights groups who feel that the laws are bent unfairly against the minority groups in the country.

The country is divided when it comes to Bibi’s release. While some are happy that Asia Bibi is finally leaving the country there are others who want her to be hanged. The Pakistan government for its part has kept the situation under control so far, that said Prime Minister will receive flak either ways. If he protects her and allows her to stay in the country, he will be criticized by the religious radicals. If he’s unable to protect her and allows her to leave the country, he will be criticized by Pakistan’s progressive group of politicians.