Asia Bibi death sentence on hold

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has admitted an appeal for Asia Bibi, the Christian death-row prisoner convicted on blasphemy charges, so putting her death sentence on hold. In her appeal, Ms Bibi says that she did not make any blasphemous remarks, and residents of her neighbourhood had levelled the blasphemy allegations against her based on a personal feud. Mother of five children, Ms Bibi has been on death row since November 2010 after being convicted of committing blasphemy during an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water in 2009.

Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan where 97 per cent of the population is Muslim and unproven claims regularly lead to mob violence. Two high-profile politicians – then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti – were murdered in 2011 after calling for reforms to the blasphemy law and describing Ms Bibi’s trial as flawed.

Ms Bibi might have to wait four to six years before her appeal is heard. She has been languishing in jail for six years, coping with poor health and severe maltreatment. Recent reports suggest that she is so weak she can hardly walk. Pope Francis drew attention to Ms Bibi’s plight in April when he met her husband and a daughter in Rome and promised to pray for her and for all persecuted Christians in Pakistan.