Family of Asia Bibi appeal for help over blasphemy charge

By Shaimaa Khalil BBC News, Punjab

Asia Bibi, a poor, illiterate woman from Pakistan's rural Punjab, has been on death row for almost five years after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, a charge she vehemently denies. In a rare interview, her husband has appealed for help from the international community.

In Pakistan, the mere accusation of blasphemy can be a death sentence. It is also enough to make the whole family a target.

This is why Asia Bibi's family members have been in hiding for nearly five years. Soon after her conviction, crowds took to the streets calling for her death, some threatening to kill her if she ever got out.

Asia's husband Ashiq Massih and her five children have been on the run since she was arrested.

He said the danger of someone killing any of them hung over him every day.

Her family now have to remember Asia through photos

 

"We get death threats," he said, looking anxious and weary. "We can't stay in one place for very long.

"We live in hiding. It's very hard especially for the children. They can't settle down or study," he added. "It's not a normal life to be constantly living in fear."

Asia's troubles began when she was picking berries in her village of Itan Wali in Punjab.

She had an argument with a group of Muslim women when she went to get water from the well. They said the water was unclean because a Christian woman had touched it.

Days later the women claimed she had insulted the Prophet Muhammad and Asia was pursued by a mob.

Asia Bibi was picking berries when a row broke out

 

"They went to fields and beat her and tore her clothes. They beat her in front of us," her 14-year-old daughter Esham said, trying to fight back tears.

"We were crying, begging them to let her go and stop hitting her. They did that for almost one hour.

"They also hit me when I tried to defend her," Esham continued.

Esham said that at the time she could not understand why this was happening to her mother, and was told later that it was about blasphemy.

"I try to forget the way she was beaten and tortured that day," Esham said.

Asia's story generated a debate across Pakistan about reforming the country's blasphemy law. But it is a very dangerous issue here that many politicians prefer to avoid.

Two prominent politicians who spoke out against it were killed.

The killer Mumtaz Qadri is seen as a hero by many in Pakistan

Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, was shot by his own bodyguard because he defended Asia and said she should be pardoned, and the killer is now considered a hero by many in Pakistan.

Not long afterwards, minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti was assassinated for speaking out against the blasphemy law.

Blasphemy is a capital offence in Pakistan - it often provokes violent attacks and, in many cases, murders. At least 50 people accused of blasphemy were killed before their trials were completed.

Pastor Arif Khokar, who has led a poor Christian congregation for years in Punjab, was accused of burning pages of the Koran after a row with a neighbour. He too vehemently denies the charge of blasphemy.

"I felt like I was going to have a heart attack," he told the BBC. "I panicked when the police told me. I never thought this could happen to me."

Pastor Khokar is now on bail - unlike many blasphemy cases neither he nor his family have been attacked but he says they live in fear every day.

"We know the punishment of this accusation and what happens to people - especially Christians. We live under so much tension."

Blasphemy lawyer Asma Jahanghir says she has been threatened regularly

 

Asia's husband says he and his daughters now fear for their lives too

The lawyers and judges who handle these cases are often threatened and attacked. Asma Jahanghir, who has worked on blasphemy cases for more than 20 years, says she has been targeted regularly.

"Religious intolerance is something that people are taking advantage of, and the courts continue to be scared," she said.

"Because you can accuse someone of blasphemy, you then gather a crowd, threaten judges, threaten lawyers and spew anger."

Asma Jahangir said she thought it was unlikely that Asia Bibi would be pardoned because of the outrage it may cause.

Asia's husband said the blasphemy law had "destroyed our lives".

"I call on the international community to help. And I ask the Pakistani government to review this law," he said.

Her daughters visit her from time to time but seeing her in jail is never easy.

"We saw her last December," Esham said. "We asked the warden to open the cell so we can hug her, but he didn't. My mother hugged and kissed us from behind the bars. She cried deep from her heart."

In Pictures: Savage Islamic Attack on St. Mark Cathedral Allowed by Egyptian Forces

By Raymond Ibrahim on April 9, 2013 in From The Arab World, Islam, Muslim Persecution of Christians

Egypt’s Coptic Christians frequently accuse State Security and police of overlooking Muslim attacks on Christians and their places of worship, especially monasteries and churches.  The Western mainstream media often ignores these accusations, or mentions them in passing as “unsubstantiated reports.” Last weekend’s assault on the St. Mark Cathedral — unprecedented in significance — was no different, except for the fact that there are many pictures demonstrating State complicity.

To recap: After last Sunday’s St. Mark Cathedral funeral service for Egypt’s most recent Christian victims of jihad — including one man set aflame — gangs of Muslims attacked the Christian mourners, resulting in the deaths of two more Copts, including one shot through the heart.   Hundreds of Christians retreated back into the cathedral — both to get out of harm’s way, and to protect their holiest site.  They were trapped there all night, enduring projectile and firebomb attacks.   State Security also opened fire on the cathedral, including through tear-gas.

Several Egyptian media outlets and newspapers, especially the popular Youm7,  have published a variety of pictures showing mobs, if not terrorists, attacking the cathedral in front of absolutely indifferent, possibly approving, security forces.  Some of these pictures, with my captions, follow:

Muslim”youth” climb to the roof of a building adjacent to St. Mark Cathedral to attack it. To the left, a man winds to hurl a projectile at it. And in the white circle to the right, high-ranking Egyptian officials and security stand by watching (easily recognizable by their hats and helmets).

A better close up. This image shows a masked sniper with rifle in hand preparing to open fire at the cathedral — confident that security forces will not intervene.

Same man opens fire.

Another man prepares to hurl stones at the cathedral, even as security forces stand by watching.

A masked man, with a rifle, sits inside an Egyptian armored vehicle — bought with U.S. taxpayer money — and fires at the cathedral.

More snipers attacking Copts and their cathedral.

Yet another picture showing rioting Muslims throwing projectiles (upper left-hand corner) at the cathedral.  A man with a pole (in yellow circle) dismantles or destroys something — a cross, or something else of Christian significance? — and Egyptian “security” (lower left-hand corner, in red circle), idly stand by.

St. Mark Cathedral, holiest site for Egypt’s indigenous Christians — and home of the Coptic pope — now turned into a war zone,  under Muslim Brotherhood leadership.

A Muslim burns a Bible in front of the cathedral, right under  security’s nose. In Egypt, if a Christian is merely accused of “desecrating” a Koran, he/she gets several years in prison. Yet here is a Muslim burning a Bible, with photo evidence, but he has nothing to fear.

A collage of some of those on rooftops firing at the cathedral. Most of them are known by name — including the second one in the Palestinian scarf — and Copts regularly report them to police and security, to no avail.

More rooftop terrorism against the cathedral.

The aftermath: the entrance of Coptic Christianity’s holiest site, the St. Mark Cathedral, after Egypt’s Muslim mob and State Security were through with it.

Finally, lest there be any doubts as to the Islamic nature of this attack, here is a video of Muslims chanting “Allahu Akbar!” in front of the cathedral as smoke rises from it: