Over half million sign petition for Asia Bibi's release

(January 30, 2012) A Pakistani Catholic woman convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death has successfully appealed a court's ruling, just as a petition demanding her release has reached over 500,000 signatures. 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. Asia Bibi, a wife and mother, is accused of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad by Muslim witnesses, which she has denied. Calls for Asia Bibi's release have increased as she awaits the Lahore High Court's ruling on her appeal in jail. A petition for Asia Bibi's release, which hopes to reach one million signatures, has already reached 560,848. The online petition, at www.CallForMercy.com, was launched by The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) after 150,000 Pakistani Christians started the petition calling for justice for Asia Bibi and better protection of religious minorities in Pakistan. VOM will deliver the petition, along with the list of signers, to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington DC, U.S.
Two prominent leaders, Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's Minority Affairs Minister, and Salmaan Taseer, the Governor of Punjab, were assassinated in 2011 for opposing the controversial blasphemy laws under which Bibi has been condemned.