ICC Note: Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws, will soon have her appeal heard before the Supreme Court. Recently, Chief Justice Saqib Nasir told Bibi’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Malook, that the case would soon be fixed and he would preside over it. In 2010, Bibi was sentenced to death after two Muslim co-workers claimed she made derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad.

04/30/2018 Pakistan (Christian Post) – Pakistan’s Chief Justice Saqib Nisar has said he will “soon” decide the fate of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who was sentenced to death in 2010 on accusations of blasphemy.

The judge told Bibi’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Malook, “I am going to fix your case soon and I myself will preside over the bench,” according to UCAN.

Justice Nisar said this when Bibi’s lawyer urged the Supreme Court to provide him police protection due to apparent anger among sections of the Pakistani society. The court granted him protection.

In 2016, Justice Iqbal Hameed, who was hearing Bibi’s appeal against death penalty at the Supreme Court, recused himself from the case and later resigned giving no specific reason.

In 2011, Salmaan Taseer, a Pakistani businessman and politician who served as the governor of the province of Punjab, was assassinated by his own bodyguard after he publicly criticized the country’s blasphemy laws referring to Bibi’s case. The then minister of minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was also ambushed and killed supposedly because he said Bibi should be granted a pardon.

Allegations of blasphemy often “stem from the Muslim accuser’s desire to take revenge” and to “settle petty, personal disputes,” according to Pakistan’s Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, or CLAAS.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which are embedded in Sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code, carry a death penalty, and yet there is no provision to punish a false accuser or a false witness of blasphemy.

Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010 on allegations of blasphemy after two co-workers accused her of insulting the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

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