Pakistani Christian pleads for clemency

THE husband of Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy (News, 19 November 2010), has appealed to the country's president Mamnoon Hussain to grant her a pardon. In an open letter, Ashiq Masih said that he and his wife had always lived in peace with their Muslim neighbours until local women developed a grudge against Mrs Bibi in 2009 and denounced her. Conditions in her prison were very bad and Mrs Bibi was being kept alive only by the delivery of food and medicines to her by family members, Mr Masih wrote. Last month, the Archbishop of Canterbury condemned the High Court of Appeal in Pakistan as "cruel" for upholding the death sentence against Mrs Bibi (News, 24 October).

Church in South Sudan sends out peacemakers

A GROUP of "Peace Mobilisers", trained to help bring reconciliation to South Sudan's warring communities, have been sent out by the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan (ECSSS), among other organisations. The 80 Peace Mobilisers will endeavour to build bridges between different groups that have been fighting on and off since the Vice-President, Riek Machar, fell out with President Salva Kiir last year over an alleged coup attempt by Mr Machar. Speaking after the Peace Mobilisers had finished their 30-day training, the Archbishop of the ECSSS, Dr Daniel Deng, said that "commitment and courage" was needed to reunite South Sudan.