ICC Note:

During a recent tour of England, one of Pakistan’s Archbishops, Archbishop Sebastian Francis Shaw, spoke out on behalf of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy law. The death sentence is based on an incident in 2009 in which Bibi got into a dispute with Muslim coworkers over the use of a watering bowl. False blasphemy accusations in Pakistan are common with personal score settling and religious hatred being primary motivations behind false accusations. Will the Archbishop’s support help Bibi as her case is up at Pakistan’s Supreme Court? 

11/01/2016 Pakistan (Catholic World Report) – The archbishop of Pakistan’s largest Catholic diocese was embarking on a nationwide tour of England to draw attention to the persecution of Christians, just as news broke of yet another delay in the blasphemy appeal case of Asia Bibi which was due to be heard on Thursday 13th October.

Archbishop Sebastian Francis Shaw OFM, of the Archdiocese of Lahore, had been giving a series of keynote lectures around England throughout the third week of October, at the invitation of the anti-Christian persecution charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), when news about Asia, the imprisoned Catholic mother of five, hit headlines around the world.

Archbishop Shaw spoke with the Catholic World Report on Saturday 15th October at Westminster Cathedral, London, where he was speaking at an ACN conference on Christian persecution in Pakistan and the Middle East.

“We’re all praying and hoping that she will get justice and be released. The case against her is very weak and fragile,” he said. “The supreme court in Pakistan is very free from pressures, and the chief justice is liberal and for human rights.”

Asia Bibi, a 50-year-old mother of five and farm laborer, was arrested in June 2009, after a group of women she was arguing with over drinking from the same well, accused her of blasphemy against Muhammad, whom Muslims believe is a prophet. She was arrested under Section 295c of the Pakistan Penal Code, and imprisoned.

In November 2010 Asia was sentenced to death, leading Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI to speak-out publicly for her release. In 2014 her appeal at the Lahore High court failed.

Her appeal was to be heard at the Supreme Court, until one of the judges cited a conflict, as he was on the bench for the case of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab murdered in January 2011 for campaigning on behalf of Asia Bibi and criticizing Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

Shabbaz Batti, the Pakistani federal minister for minority affairs, was also assassinated in March that year, for his criticism of the blasphemy law.

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