Asia Bibi Comes One Step Closer to Freedom
The Pakistani Supreme Court decided on January 29, 2019 not to accept an appeal of its own decision to acquit Asia Bibi; nothing now seems to prevent this Christian mother falsely accused of “blasphemy” against Islam from leaving the country.
It seemed highly unlikely that the Supreme Court would respond any other way, since the first acquittal was drawn up in a very detailed way by Judge Asif Saeed Khosa, an expert in criminal justice and president of the Supreme Court.
After Asia Bibi’s acquittal, thousands of Islamists blocked the country for several days, demanding the death of the Christian woman and pressuring the administration of Prime Minister Imran Khan to sign an agreement with them.
The Pakistani executive branch promised to initiate a procedure to forbid Asia Bibi to leave the territory, and not to oppose a request to review the Supreme Court’s acquittal.
While Asia Bibi can now leave the country, her case should not allow us to forget the 40 prisoners currently on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan, according to the estimates of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2018.
Sources: La Croix / AFP / FSSPX.News – 1/31/2019
