2012-12-31 16:31:12

Catholic newspaper appeals for release of Asia Bibi


December 31, 2012 - Italy’s Catholic newspaper, 'Avvenire' has launched an appeal for the release of Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Catholic woman who is in prison for over three years, falsely accused of blasphemy. On Sunday the daily newspaper, owned by the Italian Bishops Conference, released signatures of thousands of supporters who joined a campaign by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, the senate president, Renato Schifani and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Gianfranco Fini. Asia Bibi, whose case has received global interest, including that of Pope Benedict XVI, was sentenced to death by hanging in 2011 after spending more than a year in a Pakistani prison. The wife and mother of 5 children is accused of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad by Muslim witnesses, which she has denied. Monti noted that Islam is all for tolerance, peace and respect, and for this Pakistan has a huge challenge before it, that of becoming again the land of the pure and of freeing Asia Bibi, just as any Christian would do to a brother Muslim, and vice versa. Schifani instead urged for launching an alarm against extremism and promote the commitment of all towards a culture based respect for human rights and against discrimination that are still there in many societies. Fini described Asia Bibi as a symbol of all who suffer in too many parts of the world because of religious intolerance and fundamentalist fanaticism.








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