ICC Note:

Earlier this week, news broke that Pakistan’s Supreme Court is set to hear Asia Bibi, a Christian woman on death row for committing blasphemy, final appeal. This appeal represents Bibi’s last chance to avoid execution through Pakistan’s court system. If the court confirms her death sentence, Bibi’s only way to avoid the gallows is through a presidential pardon. The blasphemy case against Bibi continues to be the most famous blasphemy case in the world and is indicative of how Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often abused against religious minorities. 

8/24/2016 Pakistan (Christian Post) – Pakistan’s Supreme Court has finally set a court date for the final appeal hearing for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who was sentenced to death in 2010 on accusations of blasphemy.

According to the Christian persecution watchdog agency International Christian Concern, Bibi, also known as Aasiya Noreen, will have her final appeal heard before the country’s highest court during the second week in October.

“The Chief Justice [of] Pakistan has ordered that Asia Bibi’s appeal be fixed in the second week of October for final hearing,” Bibi’s Supreme Court lawyer Saif-Ul-Malook told ICC. “I will appear before the Supreme Court of Pakistan and argue her case while she will remain in prison. I hope [the] result will be an acquittal.”

Bibi’s blasphemy allegation stems from an altercation in June 2009 that she had with a group of Muslim women in the town of Sheikhupura in the Punjab province. As the women were picking berries, a Muslim women became enraged when Bibi drank from the same water bowl that the Muslim women drank out of.

Since Bibi was a Christian, the women considered her unclean. After an argument between the women ensued, the Muslim women went to the police and accused Bibi of saying something along the lines of “My Christ died for me, what did Muhammad do for you?”

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As the blasphemy law in Pakistan is often abused by Muslims to settle personal scores with Christians and other religious minorities, international religious freedom advocates have asserted that the charge against Bibi is trumped up and have called for the Pakistani government to immediately release her.

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