John R. Houk
© September 19, 2017
Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Christian that has been languishing
in a Pakistani jail for a better of a decade wondering if the Pakistan
government will ever proceed on the death sentence passed against her for
breaking the anti-religious freedom Blasphemy Law.
Asia has been nominated for a prestigious award from the EU
that I pray places more pressure on the Pakistan government to release her with
the ability of Asia Bibi and family to receive political asylum in a more
civilized nation. The award is called the Sakharov Prize.
About the Sakharov Prize:
The European Parliament also
supports human rights through the annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought,
established in 1988. The prize is awarded to individuals who have made an
exceptional contribution to the fight for human rights across the globe,
drawing attention to human rights violations as well as supporting the
laureates and their cause. (The European Parliament supports human
rights; European Parliament)
The nominees were announced on September 14, 2017. Here is
the nominee list which Asia Bibi is listed first:
The nominees for this year's
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought are:
Asia Bibi (Aasiya Noreen), a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death in 2010 under the country´s blasphemy law. Bibi is on a death row for almost seven years and her appeal to the supreme court has been postponed to an undetermined date. She was nominated by ECR.
Aura Lolita Chavez Ixcaquic, a human rights defender from Guatemala. She is a member from the Council of Ki’che’ Peoples (CPK), an organisation that fights to protect natural resources and human rights from the expansion of mining, logging, hydroelectric and agro-industry sectors in the territory and has been subject to threats. She was nominated by Greens/EFA.
Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, co-chairs of the pro-kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey arrested in November 2016 on terrorism charges after their parliamentary immunity was lifted. They were nominated by GUE/NGL.
Democratic Opposition in Venezuela: National Assembly (Julio Borges) and all political prisoners as listed by Foro Penal Venezolano represented by Leopoldo López, Antonio Ledezma, Daniel Ceballos, Yon Goicoechea, Lorent Saleh, Alfredo Ramos and Andrea González. The situation in Venezuela has been seriously deteriorating as regards democracy, human rights and socio-economy, in a climate of growing political and social instability. Nominated by EPP and ALDE. Political prisoners in Venezuela as well as the democratic opposition in Venezuela were also shortlisted for the Sakharov Prize in 2015.
Dawit Isaak, a Swedish-Eritrean playwright, journalist and writer, who was arrested in 2001 by the Eritrean authorities during a political crackdown. He has been imprisoned without a trial since and was last seen in 2005. Isaak was Sakharov finalist in 2009. He was nominated by S&D as well as by Wikström and 46 other MEPs.
Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a Burundian human rights activist and founder of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH). He was detained in 2014, escaped an assassination attempt in 2015 and is now living in Belgium. He was nominated by EFDD. (Sakharov Prize 2017: discover the nominees; EU affairs; 9/14/17 18:05)
Asia Bibi (Aasiya Noreen), a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death in 2010 under the country´s blasphemy law. Bibi is on a death row for almost seven years and her appeal to the supreme court has been postponed to an undetermined date. She was nominated by ECR.
Aura Lolita Chavez Ixcaquic, a human rights defender from Guatemala. She is a member from the Council of Ki’che’ Peoples (CPK), an organisation that fights to protect natural resources and human rights from the expansion of mining, logging, hydroelectric and agro-industry sectors in the territory and has been subject to threats. She was nominated by Greens/EFA.
Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, co-chairs of the pro-kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey arrested in November 2016 on terrorism charges after their parliamentary immunity was lifted. They were nominated by GUE/NGL.
Democratic Opposition in Venezuela: National Assembly (Julio Borges) and all political prisoners as listed by Foro Penal Venezolano represented by Leopoldo López, Antonio Ledezma, Daniel Ceballos, Yon Goicoechea, Lorent Saleh, Alfredo Ramos and Andrea González. The situation in Venezuela has been seriously deteriorating as regards democracy, human rights and socio-economy, in a climate of growing political and social instability. Nominated by EPP and ALDE. Political prisoners in Venezuela as well as the democratic opposition in Venezuela were also shortlisted for the Sakharov Prize in 2015.
Dawit Isaak, a Swedish-Eritrean playwright, journalist and writer, who was arrested in 2001 by the Eritrean authorities during a political crackdown. He has been imprisoned without a trial since and was last seen in 2005. Isaak was Sakharov finalist in 2009. He was nominated by S&D as well as by Wikström and 46 other MEPs.
Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a Burundian human rights activist and founder of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH). He was detained in 2014, escaped an assassination attempt in 2015 and is now living in Belgium. He was nominated by EFDD. (Sakharov Prize 2017: discover the nominees; EU affairs; 9/14/17 18:05)
In case you have been out of the loop or have forgotten the
idiotic reason for Asia’s death sentence, here is an excerpt from a past post
which was dated 7/25/15:
The women said in their charge
that Bibi asked "My Christ died for me, what did Muhammad do for you?"
— a statement considered blasphemous in the South Asian country. (Bold Text
Mine – Christian Post)
…
Asia life behind bars has not been
a bowl of strawberries and cream. Check out this excerpt from a New
York Post article in 2013 that encouraged people to buy Asia’s memoir to help her now
persecuted family and to pay Pakistan lawyers to working legal
issues for an appeal:
To her neighbors, Aasiya Noreen
“Asia” Bibi, a poor mother of five in the tiny village of Ittan Wali in central
Pakistan, was guilty — guilty of being Christian in a nation that is 97%
Muslim. For four years she has languished in a prison cell for this, facing
death by hanging.
Her new memoir, “Blasphemy,”
was dictated to her husband from jail, who relayed it to French journalist
Anne-Isabelle Tollet. Fifty percent of the proceeds the book will go to support
Bibi and her family. Tollet says the situation is dire.
Embarrassed by Bibi’s
case but still refusing to release her because of angry protests by extremists,
the Pakistan government has transferred her to a more remote prison, hoping the
42-year-old dies quietly behind bars, perhaps poisoned by another inmate.
Already two government officials who have spoken out on her behalf have been
murdered, including Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, who was killed by
the Taliban. In this excerpt, Bibi explains the simple “transgression” that led
to her plight.
…
…
I want the whole world to know that I’m going to be hanged for
helping my neighbor. I’m guilty of having shown someone sympathy. What did I do
wrong? I drank water from a well belonging to Muslim women, using “their” cup,
in the burning heat of the midday sun.
I, Asia Bibi, have been
sentenced to death because I was thirsty. I’m a prisoner because I used the
same cup as those Muslim women, because water served by a Christian woman was
regarded as unclean by my stupid fellow fruit-pickers.
That day, June 14, 2009, is
imprinted on my memory. I can still see every detail.
That morning I got up
earlier than usual, to take part in the big falsa-berry harvest. I’d been told
about it by Farah, our lovely local shopkeeper. “Why don’t you go falsa picking
tomorrow in that field just outside the village? You know the one; it belongs
to the Nadeems, the rich family who live in Lahore. The pay is 250 rupees.”
…
When I got to the field, around 15
women were already at work, picking away, their backs hidden by the tall
bushes. It was going to be a physically exhausting day in such heat, but I
needed those 250 rupees.
…
A hard-faced woman dressed in
clothes that had been mended many times came over to me with an old yellow
bowl.
“If you fill the bowl you
get 250 rupees,” she said without really looking at me.
I looked at the huge bowl
and thought I would never finish before sunset. Looking at the other women’s bowls,
I also realized mine was much bigger. They were reminding me that I’m a
Christian.
The sun was beating down,
and by midday it was like working in an oven. …
But since the river was
nowhere near, I freed myself from my bushes and walked over to the nearby well.
Already I could sense the coolness rising up from the depths.
I pull up a bucketful of
water and dip in the old metal cup resting on the side of the well. The cool
water is all I can think of. I gulp it down and I feel better; I pull myself
together.
Then I start to hear
muttering. I pay no attention and fill the cup again, this time holding it out
to a woman next to me who looks like she’s in pain. She smiles and reaches out
. . . At exactly the moment Musarat pokes her ferrety nose out from the bush,
her eyes full of hate:
“Don’t drink that water,
it’s haram!”
Musarat addresses all the
pickers, who have suddenly stopped work at the sound of the word “haram,”
the Islamic term for anything forbidden by God.
“Listen, all of you, this Christian
has dirtied the water in the well by drinking from our cup and dipping it back
several times. Now the water is unclean and we can’t drink it! Because of her!”
It’s so unfair that for once
I decide to defend myself and stand up to the old witch.
“I think Jesus would see if
differently from Mohammed.”
Musarat is furious. “How dare
you think for the Prophet, you filthy animal!”
…
(Asia Bibi Gets Execution Stay - Now Push
for Political Asylum; By John R. Houk; SlantRight
2.0; 7/25/15)
It’s been over two years since I posted the original excerpt
above. As far as I know, NOTHING HAS CHANGED! Asia Bibi (or her less well-known
name - Aasiya Noreen) is still languishing in jail.
The closest update I have found is from an online French
Catholic publication called Aleteia which also
publishes in English:
Condemned to death in 2009 for
insulting Islam, the Pakistani Catholic is still awaiting her final verdict.
On June 14, 2009, Asia Bibi was thrown into
jail. A year later she was sentenced to death for blasphemy, and since
2013, after two transfers, she has been languishing in one of the three
windowless cells on death row in the southern province of Multan in the Punjab
Penitentiary. A year after the Supreme Court of Pakistan postponed her
appeal amid death threats by 150 muftis (Muslim legal experts) against anyone
who would assist “blasphemers,” the case has not progressed by one
iota. On August 30, Asia Bibi had spent 3,000 days in prison.
Her family lives
underground. The only thing we know comes from her lawyer, the Muslim Saif
ul Malook, who has visited her in recent months. He says she is doing well
and is still hoping for her release. On the other hand, the Supreme Court
seems to have forgotten the case, and has still not decided whether to confirm
her death sentence or to release her.
During those 3,000 days Asia Bibi
has never stopped praying and asking for prayers. As a tribute to this
Christian who has become an icon for all those who struggle in Pakistan and the
world against all violence in the name of religion, this is the prayer she
composed last year on the occasion of the Easter celebrations, and which
accompanies her in her detention:
Resurrected Lord, allow your
daughter Asia to rise again with you. Break my chains, make my heart free
and go beyond these bars, and accompany my soul so that it is close to those
who are dear to me, and that it remains always near you. Do not abandon me
in the day of trouble, do not deprive me of your presence. You who have
suffered torture and the cross, alleviate my suffering. Hold me near you,
Lord Jesus. On the day of your resurrection, Jesus, I want to pray for my
enemies, for those who hurt me. I pray for them and I beg you to forgive
them for the harm they have done me. I ask you, Lord, to remove all
obstacles so that I may obtain the blessing of freedom. I ask you to
protect me and protect my family.
After eight years of suffering,
anguish and disappointed hopes, let us keep up our prayers and our actions of
support for her, because through her we support all the persecuted Christians
in their sacrifices. (Asia Bibi has spent more than 3,000 days in
prison for blasphemy; By Isabelle Cousturie; Aleteia; 9/18/17)
The organization Prisoner
Profile has a post tracking Asia Bibi’s Pakistan legal system
difficulties/persecution with the dates 6/2009 through 5/2017.
Dan Wooding the Chief Editor of Assist News Service (ANS) sent the email alert
notifying me of Asia Bibi’s Sakharov Prize nomination. Below is my cross post
of that ANS article.
JRH 9/19/17
*****************
By Dan Wooding - Founder of
ASSIST News Service
September 17, 2017 23:58
Free Asia Bibi campaign
PAKISTAN (ANS – September 17, 2017) --
Pakistan’s most famous Christian prisoner, Asia Bibi, has been nominated for
the European Union’s high-status award, the Sakharov Prize.
Ms. Bibi, a mother-of-five, who is currently behind the bars
waiting for a hearing of her appeal against capital punishment, was nominated
by a group of European legislators.
According to Madeeha Bakhsh, writing for Christians
in Pakistan (https://www.christiansinpakistan.com/),
“Asia has been nominated for ‘Freedom of Thought’ by the legislators who form
an influential group European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR). This
European Conservatives and Reformists Group is the third largest group in the
European Parliament,” she wrote. “The European Conservatives and Reformists
Group (ECR), nominated Asia Bibi late on Wednesday, September 13.”
Peter van Dalen, a Dutch European parliamentarian and member
of ECR’s faction, ChristenUnion-SGP, said: “Her case is a symbol for others
hurt in their freedom of expression and especially freedom of religion. It is
good that my colleagues in the ECR and I continue to defend the rights of
[Asia] Bibi and many others.”
Members of the entire European Parliament will soon be
casting their votes in favor of their favorite candidate.
“If a majority casts [their] votes in favor of Asia Bibi;
she could win the €50,000
($59,670 USD) award for the Sakharov Prize, which is considered Europe’s most prestigious human
rights award,” said Madeeha Bakhsh. “This award is named after Andrei Sakharov,
a scientist and dissident hailing from the Soviet era.”
Sakharov died on December 14, 1989, and the award ceremony
will be held in Strasbourg, France, on December 10.
Asia Bibi, a berry picker, was accused of committing
blasphemy by her co-workers back in 2009. Later on, in 2010, a court in the
Punjab district of Nankana found her guilty and she was sentenced to death by
hanging, a verdict later challenged and upheld by a two-member bench of Lahore
High Court in 2014.
Her appeal case is currently pending with the Supreme Court
of Pakistan.
“Supposedly her final appeal hearing on October 13, 2016,
was meant to wind up the most high profile case of the country, however, it was
delayed as one of the judges refused to be a part of the three member bench
that was to hear the case,” added Bakhsh.
She said that on the date of the hearing, Justice Iqbal
Hameed ur Rehman, one of the three judges due to hear Asia Bibi’s appeal case,
suddenly withdrew saying, “I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case
of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that.”
The judge was referring to the case of the then governor of
Punjab, who was assassinated on January 4, 2011, at the Kohsar Market in
Islamabad by his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, who disagreed with Taseer’s
opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law and his support for Asia Bibi. Qadri was
later sentenced to death by a Pakistani Anti-Terrorist court at Islamabad for
murdering Taseer, and was executed on February 29, 2016.
Consequently, the hearing was adjourned and Ms. Bibi is
still on death row in her lonely prison cell.
Note: Christians in Pakistan is a non-profit organization
and a leading source of news related to Pakistani Christians. They can be
contacted by e-mail at: ChristiansinPak@gmail.com.
Photo captions: 1) Asia Bibi. 2) Andrei Sakharov on the
cover of Time magazine. 3) Salmaan Taseer meeting with Asia Bibi
after her arrest. Many believe that this meeting cost him his life. 4) Ashiq
Masih, the husband of Asia Bibi with some of the children. 5) Dan Wooding
About the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning
______________
Persecuted Pakistan Christian Sakharov Prize Nominee
John R. Houk
© September 19, 2017
_______________
ASIA BIBI NOMINATED FOR EU’S PRESTIGIOUS SAKHAROV PRIZE
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