ICC Note:

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has declined a request by Asia Bibi to hear her final appeal in the first week of June. Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly committing blasphemy, has been in prison since being sentenced in 2010. Many observers claim the court’s decision was influenced by Islamic radicals. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws remain one of the country’s most pressing issues for the Christian minority. When will Bibi’s hearing be held and will it lead to her ultimate release?

05/01/2017 Pakistan (Vatican Radio) – The Supreme Court of Pakistan has turned down the request for an early hearing of the case of a Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy, that her supporters and rights activists hold hard-liner Islamic lobbyists responsible for. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, on April 26^th, declined a request for the hearing of the case of Asia Bibi in the first week of June made by her Muslim lawyer Saiful Malook.

‎“Today I have been informed that the plea was declined by the CJP,” Malook told The Express Tribune.

Bibi, a 51-year-old fruit picker from Sheikhupura, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in ‎‎2010 after an argument with a Muslim woman over a glass of water. Her supporters and rights activists maintain her ‎innocence and insist she was falsely accused due to a personal dispute with the accuser.‎

Successive appeals have been rejected, and if the Supreme Court bench upholds Bibi’s ‎conviction, her only recourse will be a direct appeal to the president for clemency.‎

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