Christian Woman Sentenced to Hang For Blasphemy

Asia Bibi Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to hang for blasphemy makes last appeal. After four years on death row over blasphemy charges, Asia Bibi, a mother-of-five, makes emotional appeal to world community from windowless cell. Asia Bibi was arrested after Muslim women told a cleric in a village in the eastern Punjab province that she had made "derogatory remarks" about the prophet.  A Pakistani Christian woman who was sentenced to death for blasphemy has filed an appeal in Pakistan's supreme court in a final bid to avoid execution. Asia Bibi, a 50-year-old mother-of-five has been on death row since 2010 after being convicted of insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad during an argument over a glass of well water. She denied the charges. Her case has become an international cause celebre among rights groups and has even been offered asylum in France by the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, in the hope she can escape the death penalty. An open letter from Mrs Bibi's husband, which includes an impassioned note of thanks from her windowless cell, is currently in circulation on the Internet to draw attention to her case. Last month a lower court in the eastern city of Lahore confirmed her sentence, apparently ending hopes it would be commuted to a jail term. The allegations against Mrs Bibi date back to June 2009, when she was laboring in a field and a row broke out with some Muslim women she was working with. She was asked to fetch water, but the Muslim women objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the water bowl. A few days later the women went to a local cleric and put forward the blasphemy allegations. Pakistan has never executed anyone for blasphemy and has had a de-facto moratorium on civilian executions since 2008. But anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.

By Naeem Nasir