The husband of a Christian woman at the centre of a blasphemy case on Saturday criticised a government deal with the religious parties that left her in legal limbo, and called on authorities to protect her. Asia Bibi, on death row since 2010 on blasphemy charges, was acquitted by the Supreme Court Wednesday and ordered set free, triggering protests by religious parties who paralysed the country for three days. The government reached a deal Friday to end the protests by agreeing to a travel ban preventing Bibi from leaving the country, and saying it would not object to religious parties appealing the verdict. An appeal has been filed with the apex court.
“It is wrong to set a precedent in which you pile pressure onto the judiciary,” Bibi’s husband Ashiq Masih told German Deutsche Welle radio. He said the government should never have yielded to pressure from the protesters. Masih said the court had been ‘very courageous’ to acquit his wife, an illiterate mother in her 50s. “The current situation is very dangerous for us. We have no security and are hiding here and there, frequently changing our location,” Masih said, and demanded the government reinforce Bibi’s protection in prison, worrying that she may be attacked. He cited the case of two Christian men who were shot dead after a court acquitted them in another blasphemy case. “The situation is dangerous for Asia. I feel that her life is not secure,” he said. “So I appeal to the government to enhance Asia’s security in jail”.
Published in Daily Times, November 4th 2018.
