ICC Note: This month marks the ninth anniversary of the arrest of Asia Bibi in Pakistan. Bibi, a Christian woman, was arrested for allegedly committing blasphemy during an argument with Muslim coworkers. Many view Bibi’s death sentence and subsequent legal battle as emblematic of the abuse of Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws and widespread discrimination experienced by Christians in Pakistan.  

06/25/2018 Pakistan (The Herald) – This month has marked the ninth anniversary of the arrest of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly committing blasphemy in Pakistan.

The case against Bibi remains the highest profile blasphemy case in Pakistan and has claimed the lives of several prominent Pakistani politicians.

In 2009, Bibi was accused of blasphemy following a dispute between herself and a group of Muslim co-workers harvesting berries in Sheikhupura.

An argument broke out when Bibi drank from the same water basin as her Muslim co-workers, because she was a Christian and considered by the Muslim women to be unclean.

A few days later, it was reported to a local cleric that Bibi had blasphemed against Islam by allegedly saying, “My Christ died for me, what did Muhammad do for you?”

Since her arrest, Bibi’s case has become symbolic of the persecution facing Pakistani Christians and the widespread abuse of the country’s blasphemy laws.

Bibi was convicted and she was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges in November 2010 by the Session’s Court in District Nankana, Punjab.

Months later, the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, visited Bibi in prison. Upon leaving the jail, he made a statement that the blasphemy laws had been misused in her case.

Within days, he was murdered by his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, who had been convinced by radicals that this was an attack on Islam. Two months after this murder, in March 2011, the Federal Minister of Minorities’ Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti – the only Christian in the Pakistani cabinet – criticized the country’s blasphemy laws, noting that they were easily manipulated.

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