Blasphemy case: Aasia Bibi’s appeal adjourned

The hearing is now scheduled for April 14. On Wednesday, the complainant, Qari Muhammad Salam, and Aasia’s husband, Ashiq Masih, were present before the court.

Salam had alleged that Aasia Bibi uttered blasphemous remarks on June 14, 2009. He said that although he was not present, Asma Bibi, her sister, and Yasmin told him about the incident. He said that he along with Muhammad Afzal and Mukhtar Ahmed had summoned Aasia Bibi and the witnesses.

He claimed that Bibi had confessed and begged pardon. Salam said Bibi had hurt their religious sentiments and should be tried under blasphemy law.

Advocate Yasif Badar, Bibi’s counsel and a member of the Free Legal Aid and Settlement (FLAS), told The Express Tribune that Bibi had categorically rejected Salam’s story. She said Asma Bibi and her sister had falsely implicated her due to an altercation between them when they refused to take drinking water brought by Bibi because she was a Christian.

FLAS chairman and advocate Anis AA Saadie told The Express Tribune that eight witnesses had recorded their statements against Bibi, but even among the Chrisitian community not a single witness had dared to defend her in court.

Saadie said she had been convicted for a confession made under pressure of a mob of more than 200 people. He said such extra judicial confessions held no value and could not be used to convict any person.

He said the investigation had not been conducted under guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.

Bibi has been in jail since June 2009. She was sentenced to death and fined Rs 100,000 by a Nankana Sahib additional district and sessions judge on November 8, 2011, under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2014.