“If Asia Bibi is put to death, it could mean a rise in prosecutions of Christians – not just in Pakistan, but also in other nations where Islamic law is enforced”
The Pakistani government was barred on Monday by the country’s high court from pardoning a Christian woman sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy.
A lawyer argued that a pardon would be illegal while the case was pending in the courts.
“Since the matter is in the high court, the government cannot now make any move to pardon Bibi,” lawyer Allah Bakhsh Leghari told Agence France-Presse.
Asia Bibi was sentenced early this month to death by hanging for allegedly speaking ill of Prophet Muhammad. The Christian mother of five is the first woman to receive a death sentence for blasphemy in Pakistan.
Bibi’s attorney filed an appeal and signed a petition pleading for a presidential pardon.
Religious leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, and human rights groups have called for her release but conservative Muslims have threatened anarchy if President Asif Ali Zadari pardons the woman…
Human rights group Christian Freedom International warns that Bibi’s case could set a precedent in the Muslim-majority nation where Christians are already harassed and persecuted regularly.
In the past, Pakistan’s courts have issued death sentences for blasphemy, but no executions have been carried out. All the death sentences were thrown out upon appeal.
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