http://www.smh.com.au/world/christian-on-death-row-fears-poisoning-20111227-1pbkm.html
Christian on death row fears poisoning Rob Crilly December 28, 2011 Asia Bibi, centre, listens to the then Pakistani Punjab province governor, the late Salman Taseer. Photo: AFP A PAKISTANI Christian on death row after being convicted of blasphemy has described how she has to cook her own meals for fear of being poisoned. The case of Asia Bibi has been taken up by Pakistan's small band of liberal reformers since it was reported in November last year. It has also exposed the power wielded by extremist clerics and the persecution faced by a tiny Christian minority. In her first interview from behind bars, she described the miserable conditions in prison as she waits for the chance to appeal against her conviction. Advertisement: Story continues below Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to death for adultery. Photo: Reuters ''I am allowed to go out for only 30 minutes every day, and allowed to meet my family for one hour every Tuesday,'' she told Life for All, a Christian organisation. ''I am given raw material to cook for myself, since the administration fears I might be poisoned, as other Christians accused of blasphemy were poisoned or killed in the jail.'' She said a guard had been suspended for trying to strangle her. Meanwhile, an Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning for adultery provoked an international outcry could be executed by hanging instead, the country's judicial authorities have indicated. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 44-year-old mother of two, was convicted of conducting an ''illicit relationship outside marriage'' in 2006 and has since been kept in Tabriz prison in the west of Iran. Malek Ajdar Sharifi, head of the judiciary in East Azerbaijan, said the prison did not have the ''necessary facilities'' to carry out stoning. Therefore, he said, authorities were considering hanging. According to Mr Sharifi, an investigation has been launched to determine whether it is legally and religiously possible to go ahead with the alternative execution. TELEGRAPH, GUARDIAN Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/christian-on-death-row-fears-poisoning-20111227-1pbkm.html#ixzz1hxqLy3Rl [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
