Christian woman released from Pakistan blasphemy case travels to Canada

in #asiabibi5 years ago

Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent eight years on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan, has flown to Canada to be reunited with her family. The news was welcomed on Twitter, with users posting messages of support and delight.

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File photo: © AFP / ARIF ALI

“It is a big day,” Bibi’s lawyer Saiful Malook said. “Justice has been dispensed.”

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https://twitter.com/femeninna/status/1126048697136177152

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https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1126042957134561280

Her reunion with her four daughters in Ottawa concludes a nine-year saga for the Roman Catholic farm laborer, from Ittanwala near Lahore, who was accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed by a group of Muslim women following a row over a cup of water in June 2009.

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https://twitter.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1126035886481784832

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https://twitter.com/mehreenzahra/status/1126034472846098432

A local mosque broadcast the allegations levelled against her and she was subsequently dragged from her home and beaten by a mob before being taken into custody. She was sentenced to death in 2010.

Throughout her time in prison, Bibi received support both internationally and from within Pakistan’s own government, with fatal consequences. The governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in 2011 after he appealed to the Pakistani president to pardon her. The bodyguard was executed over the crime in 2016.

In addition, Shahbaz Bhatti, who was the federal minister for minority affairs at the time, was shot dead by self-proclaimed Taliban gunmen in March 2011 after he called for the reform of blasphemy laws and declared his support for Bibi.

Bibi was finally released from prison in 2018 following her acquittal by the Supreme Court which quashed the blasphemy sentence citing unreliable evidence and an alleged confession issued before a crowd that was “threatening to kill her.”

Her acquittal sparked an outbreak of violence and angry demonstrations on the streets of Islamabad and Karachi as armed mobs pelted police and traffic with stones.

The hardline conservative Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) protested for three days and forced the government to reconsider the acquittal. Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the verdict in January.

Meanwhile, Bibi was kept in a secret location while arrangements were made for her safe departure from the country where she was held prisoner on death row for eight years.

At least 65 people have reportedly been killed for blasphemy in Pakistan since 1990.

Original: https://www.rt.com/news/458712-asia-bibi-arrives-canada-pakistan/

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It's definitely for the best that she leave the country. She's definitely not safe there...

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