WUNRN
http://www.dawn.com/news/1138402/lhc-upholds-blasphemy-convict-asia-bibis-death-penalty
http://www.wluml.org/news/lhc-upholds-blasphemy-convict-asia-bibis-death-penalty
PAKISTAN – LAHORE HIGH COURT
UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY OF ASIA BIBI FOR BLASPHEMY
Source: AFP
– 10/21/14 – Lahore, Pakistan - The Lahore
High Court (LHC) on Thursday upheld the death sentence of a Christian woman
convicted of blasphemy four years ago, as her lawyers vowed to appeal.
Asia Bibi, a mother of five, has been on death row since November
2010 after she was found guilty of making derogatory remarks about
the Holy Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) during an argument with a Muslim
woman.
“A two-judge bench of the Lahore High Court dismissed the
appeal of Asia Bibi but we will file an appeal in the Supreme Court of
Pakistan,” her lawyer Shakir Chaudhry told AFP.
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 Bibi's trial as
flawed.
The blasphemy allegations against Bibi date back to June
2009.
She was working in a field when she was asked to fetch
water. Muslim women labourers objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was
unfit to touch the water bowl.
A few days later the women went to a local cleric and put
forward the blasphemy allegations.
Over a dozen religious clerics — including Qari Saleem
who brought forward the initial complaint against Bibi — were present at the
court Thursday.
“We will soon distribute sweets among our Muslim brothers
for today's verdict, it's a victory of Islam,” Saleem told AFP outside the
courtroom as the clerics congratulated each other and chanted religious
slogans.
Pakistan's tough blasphemy laws have attracted criticism
from rights groups, who say they are frequently misused to settle personal
scores.
Lawyers who defend people accused of blasphemy — and
judges seen as lenient — also risk being accused of the crime themselves and
regularly face intimidation.
Last month a prison guard at the notorious Adiala jail in
Rawalpindi shot and wounded a 70-year-old Scottish man with a history of mental
illness who is on death row for blasphemy.
The jail also houses Mumtaz Qadri, the former bodyguard
of governor Taseer who gunned him down in an Islamabad market place. He was
given a death sentence but heralded by some as a hero for killing Taseer.
Blasphemy carries the death penalty, though Pakistan has
had a de facto moratorium on civilian hangings since 2008. Only one person has
been executed since then, a soldier convicted by a court martial and hanged in
November 2012.
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