http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=399875&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23
Condemned Christian seeks mercy from Zardari
Publish Date: Sunday,21 November, 2010, at 12:01 PM Doha Time
ZARDARI
A Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan on charges of blaspheming
Islam said yesterday she had been wrongfully accused by neighbours due to a
personal dispute, and appealed to the president to pardon her.
Asia Bibi, mother of four, is the first woman to be sentenced to death under
Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law which rights groups say is often
exploited by religious extremists as well as ordinary Pakistanis to settle
personal scores. The 36-year-old farm worker was taken into custody by police
in June last year and was convicted by a lower court on November 8. She has
been in prison since then, with her case drawing international media attention
as well as appeals by human rights groups, and, according to Pakistani media,
Pope Benedict.
"I told police that I have not committed any blasphemy and this is a wrong
accusation, but they did not listen to me," Bibi told reporters after meeting
with Salman Taseer, governor of the central Punjab province where she is
imprisoned. "I have small kids. I have wrongly been implicated in this false
case," she said in the prison, covered in a cloak that only revealed her eyes.
Taseer said he would take up Bibi's case with President Asif Ali Zardari, who
has the constitutional power to pardon her. "Inshallah, her appeal will be
accepted," Taseer said, adding that he had studied Bibi's case and found that
she had not committed any blasphemy.
"She is a helpless Christian woman. She can't legally defend herself because
she does not have resources. Implicating such helpless minorities in such cases
amounts to ridiculing the constitution of Pakistan," Taseer added. On Friday,
Zardari asked the ministry for minorities affairs to compile a report on Bibi's
case within three days after Pakistani media suggested the accusations stemmed
from a village dispute.
Bibi confirmed she had been involved in a dispute over livestock with her
neighbours, but would not give any more details.
Pakistani media said the quarrel began when some women who worked on the same
farm refused to drink water from a bowl used by Bibi, saying they would not
drink or eat anything a non-Muslim has touched. Bibi said her opponents
physically abused her before taking her to court. "They slapped me...They tried
to strangle me. Their women also pulled my hair," she said in a choked voice.
Pakistan is an overwhelmingly Muslim nation of more than 170mn people.
Religious minorities - mostly Christians - account for roughly 4% of the
population.
Christians have long complained about the blasphemy law saying it offers them
no protection. The law makes it a crime to speak ill of Islam and its Prophet
Muhammad punishable by death, and makes no reference to other religions.
Blasphemy convictions are common in Pakistan, although the death sentence has
never been carried out. Most convictions are thrown out on appeal, but angry
mobs have killed many people accused of blasphemy. Two Christian brothers
accused of writing a blasphemous letter against the Prophet were gunned down
outside a court in the eastern city of Faisalabad in July. Reuters
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