ASHIQ MASIH, the husband of Asia Bibi, the woman sentenced to
death for blasphemy in Pakistan, has said that he expects her to be
released, but that the family will then have to flee the
country.
Mr Masih is waiting for his wife's appeal to be heard in the
Supreme Court of Pakistan. "We have belief in God that she will be
out this time," he said last Friday.
He last saw her on 15 January and reported that she was "doing
fine . . . She is in a good mental condition and very single-minded
in her faith to live and die for Jesus Christ. She can pay any cost
for that."
He is convinced that, if his wife is released, the family will
have to flee the country: "It is not safe for her after her release
to stay in Pakistan, because they will kill her. I do not have any
idea where we will go."
Mrs Bibi, a 49-year-old mother of five, was accused of insulting
the Prophet Muhammad in 2009. She says that she was falsely accused
by some Muslim women who bore her a grudge. Her death sentence,
which was imposed by a regional court near Lahore in 2010, provoked
an international outcry. It was upheld by the High Court of Appeal
last year - a decision branded as "cruel" by the Archbishop of
Canterbury (News,
24 October).
Their mother's imprisonment had had a "very bad" effect on the
children, Mr Masih said. "They really miss her and want her to come
back soon. It's important, because most of the family depends on
the mother; so the fact that she is not here means the young girls
are facing a big problem." Although the children were attending
school, they had to move "every two to three months" before people
recognised them.
Mr Masih believes that Pakistan's blasphemy law is being abused,
and must be amended. Previous attempts by MPs to do this have been
countered by assassinations. On Saturday, the guilty verdict on the
assassin of the former Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer was upheld
by one of Pakistan's High Courts. Mr Taseer was shot and killed by
his bodyguard, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, in 2011, after trying to
overturn the blasphemy laws and speaking out in defence of Mrs Bibi
(News, 7 January
2011).
Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian
Association (BPCA), warned that the failure of the appeal would
"redouble efforts" to see Mrs Bibi's appeal fail. "If this is the
case, it would take a brave Prime Minister to free Asia Bibi by
presidential pardon. However, this is a duty the leader of a nation
should commit himself to despite external pressures."
The BPCA is calling on the UK Government to reconsider its
asylum policy to ensure that Christians in Pakistan are offered a
"safe haven" here. In December, it welcomed a decision by the Dutch
government to designate Pakistani Christians as a "risk group",
making it easier for them to be recognised as refugees.
The BPCA plans to present a petition to the Pakistan High
Commission next
month: http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/justice4asia