Tag: Pakistan

‘Untouchable’ caste identity haunts Pakistani Christians like Asia Bibi

November 1, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Caste, Gilgit, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore, Minorities, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Peshawar, Punjab, Quetta, Sindh, Sweepers

Asia Bibi was on death row for blasphemy, after offering drinking water which she, as a Christian, was considered to have made “unclean” by her touch. She got into an argument over this. Many Pakistani Christians – who are about 2% of the population – are children of converts to . . . Read More

Pakistan PM appeals for calm after Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy

October 31, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Constitution, Imran Khan, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan Peoples Party, Prophet Muhammad, Punjab, Quran, Sharia, Sindh, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, this evening urged the nation not to let a fraction of people incite them to take the law into their own hands over the decision of the Supreme Court to release a Christian woman who had been facing the death penalty for blasphemy. The security . . . Read More

‘A victory for Pakistan and millions of its marginalised people’ – son of governor who was killed for defence of innocent Asia Bibi

October 31, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Minorities, Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistan, Salmaan Taseer, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Shahbaz Taseer. (Photo: beenasarwar.com)

Demonstrations were held in several cities in Pakistan following the acquittal of Asia Bibi of blasphemy charges by the Supreme Court earlier today (31 October). However, the numbers were in the hundreds rather than the thousands that might have been anticipated. And the son of the ex-Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, . . . Read More

Pakistani mother Asia Bibi wins appeal against death sentence for blasphemy

October 31, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Imran Khan, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Minorities, Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistan, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Asia Bibi is finally free, almost one decade after she was first imprisoned. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman on death row for blasphemy since 2010, has won her final appeal. She is expected to be freed from prison soon, but there are still fears for her personal safety, as many in the country still believe that she should die. Her case has divided . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian gets life for blasphemy despite learning difficulties

October 26, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Pakistan, Police, Quran

Mentally impaired Yaqoob Bashir Masih was only 20 years old when he was accused of committing blasphemy in June 2015. He has been in prison ever since, and now his hometown District and Sessions Court in Mirpur Khas, a small district in Pakistan’s Sindh province, has sentenced him to life-long . . . Read More

‘If the UN does not stand for Asia Bibi, what does it stand for?’

October 25, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Human rights, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, Religious freedom, UN

An opinion piece published in the Washington Examiner has criticised the United Nations for failing to speak out against Pakistan’s treatment of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman on death row for blasphemy against Islam since 2010. The article, written by New Jersey-based William Mahoney, contrasts the UN’s response to France’s . . . Read More

Asia Bibi appeal complainant not even present at time of her alleged ‘blasphemy’

October 19, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran

Asia Bibi with Punjab Governor, Salmaan Taseer, who was assassinated for supporting her case. (Photo: Office of the Governor of Punjab)

Asia Bibi’s final appeal against her execution in the Supreme Court of Pakistan went on for more than two hours. Below, World Watch Monitor provides details of what was said. Asia Bibi’s appeal hearing on 8 October took place before a three-member bench – Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif . . . Read More

Pakistan: Islamic groups threaten Supreme Court judges ahead of Asia Bibi ruling

October 11, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Extremist religious groups in Pakistan have called for mass protests and threatened the judges of the country’s Supreme Court in Islamabad ahead of their ruling in the blasphemy case of Christian woman Asia Bibi. The hardline Islamic party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) threatened the judges in a press conference on YouTube, saying . . . Read More

Pakistan’s Supreme Court hears Asia Bibi’s ‘blasphemy’ appeal but delays ruling

October 8, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamabad, Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistan, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Aasiya Noreen, a Pakistani Christian woman, has been on death row for over eight years for alleged blasphemy. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has finally heard the much-delayed appeal of Asia Bibi, the first Christian woman sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy law, today, 8 October, in the capital, Islamabad. It has not announced its decision, saying it will “reserve judgment” for several days or possibly weeks. Aasiya Noreen, commonly . . . Read More

‘Eliminate’ blasphemy laws, says US commission chief on International Blasphemy Day

October 1, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Ahmed Shaheed, Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia, UN, USA

In some countries blasphemy is a very sensitive topic and often leads to riots and violence, like in Islamabad, Pakistan, in November 2017.(Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Blasphemy laws are “dangerous” and should be “eliminated”, the chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) told Newsweek yesterday on International Blasphemy Day. The freedom to criticise or mock religion should not be decided by governments and their interpretation of laws, said Dr. Tenzin Dorjee. And it . . . Read More

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