Pakistani Court: No Pardon for Christian Woman Sentenced To Death
(December 02, 2010) The Lahore High Court has ruled that Pakistani President Asif
Ali Zardari cannot pardon Asia Bibi, the 45-year-old Christian mother of five whose
death sentence on blasphemy charges has provoked an international outcry. The president
is disputing the ruling of the court, which determined that the president cannot issue
a pardon while a case is under appeal. Bibi, a resident of Ittanwali in the eastern
province of Punjab, was working at a local farm when the Muslim women with whom she
was working called her an infidel and urged her to convert to Islam. Bibi refused,
saying that Christianity was the only true religion. “The Muslim men working in nearby
fields also gathered and attacked Asia Bibi on which she fled to village in her home,”
the Pakistan Christian Post reported. “The angry Muslims followed her and took her
out of home and started beating her. They tortured her children also, but meanwhile
someone informed police.” Bibi also says that her accusers raped her. Police then
arrested Bibi on blasphemy charges. Following a lengthy trial, she was sentenced to
death. Bibi is fearful she will be killed in prison; her family has gone into hiding.