Now That’s Some All Saints Day News
John R. Houk
© November 1, 2018
For nearly a decade Pakistan Christian Asia Bibi has been on
death row for drinking water from – get this – a Muslim-only well. But
her death sentence was allegedly she denigrated Muhammad in favor of Jesus.
A Muslim-only well! Shades of egregious civil rights practices
which have long been outlawed in the USA. As to whatever she may or may not
have said about Mo, That dude was an evil ruffian-pirate-rapist-mass
murderer-sex slaver and probably more than I can think of, in the name of a
fabricated religion created to justify such godless evil actions.
YUP! In Pakistan I’d be on death row for writing the truth (according
Muslim writings BY-THE-WAY).
But Asia Bibi has denied she has made any denigrating remarks
about the Muslim Mo false prophet.
YESTERDAY I found out Asia Bibi was acquitted when Pakistan’s
High Court overturned Asia near decade long death sentence. Here are the
details according to the Gatestone Institute below.
JRH 11/1/18
In this current state of media censorship & defunding, consider
chipping in a few bucks for enjoying (or even despising yet read) this Blog.
********************
Pakistan: Asia
Bibi Acquitted After Years Awaiting Death for "Blasphemy"
October 31, 2018 at 5:00 am
·
Asia Bibi was sentenced
to death in 2010 because she is a Christian and because she was thirsty. Today,
justice was served when her conviction was overturned.
·
Now, Bibi may be
targeted for assassination when she is released. Islamists have placed a bounty
on her head of 50 million rupees ($375,000). Salman Taseer, a brave Muslim who
was governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, was murdered just for expressing
support for her. Pakistan's federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti,
was also murdered for defending Bibi.
·
Lawyers defending
Christians and others accused of blasphemy are sometimes murdered as well.
·
In the ultimate irony,
just a few days ago, the so-called European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld
this same blasphemy law. The ECHR ruling is unspeakable. It is time to remove
the unelected judges of that unaccountable and unappealable court.
After 3,422 days of cruel and unjustified imprisonment as
"the first woman to be sentenced to death for blasphemy,"
the death penalty verdict against Asia Noreen Bibi has finally been overturned.
Pakistan's Supreme today set aside the death sentence
against Bibi, a Roman Catholic mother of five. After being convicted in a trial
in 2010 for false accusations of "blasphemy", now justice has
actually prevailed. Killing Bibi because her Muslim co-workers were offended
that she, an "unclean" Christian, drank water from a communal well, was too much even
for Pakistan, where Christians are habitually persecuted.
Bibi is now being "held at an undisclosed
location for security reasons." Islamist hardliners have already threatened the judges that if she is freed,
those responsible would meet a "horrible" end.
On June 14, 2009, Asia Bibi drank water from a communal well on a hot day,
while working in a field. Two Muslim women alleged that because she, a
Christian, had touched the water from the well, the entire well was now haram (forbidden
by Islamic law). Asia responded by saying "I think Jesus would see if
differently from Mohammed," that Jesus had "died on the cross for the
sins of mankind," and asked, "What did your Prophet Muhammad ever do
to save mankind?" This enraged the other women, who pushed and spit on
her.
Five days later, as she worked in another field, a crowd of
"dozens of men and women," calling for Bibi's death, beat her
savagely and carried her to the village, where police arrested her. Qari Muhammad Sallam, the village imam (who had not
been present at the water dispute), and the women who said Bibi had defiled the
well-water, told the police chief that Bibi had "insulted the Prophet
Mohammed."
On November 8, 2010, after just five minutes of deliberation, Asia Noreen Bibi,
under Article 295 of Pakistan's Penal Code, was sentenced to death by hanging.
Asia Bibi was sentenced to death because she is a Christian
and because she was thirsty.
Islamists cheered the verdict. Asia Bibi was alone against an
entire country ready to sacrifice its weak Christian minority to appease the
Islamists. After Bibi's arrest, her family moved houses 15 times in five years. In the last
weeks there have been reports of Asia suffering dementia. Eight years of solitary
confinement, with the daily risk of being murdered in prison, have
been a brutal form of psychological torture. For fear of being poisoned in prison, Bibi was allowed even to
prepare her own meals.
A few days ago, during the plenary meeting in Strasbourg,
the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, said:
"Asia Bibi enraged some women
for having drunk from a well. According to those women, such contact with
Christian lips would have contaminated the water. After being attacked and
reported for blasphemy, Asia Bibi risks being hanged. I ask the Pakistani
authorities... to make sure that woman can have a fair trial and to avoid any
form of discrimination or religious prejudice."
Now, we must fear that when Bibi is released, she will be
targeted for assassination. Islamists have placed a bounty on
her head of 50 million rupees ($375,000).
Salman
Taseer, a brave Muslim who was governor of Pakistan's Punjab
province, paid with his life just for expressing support for Asia; he was
murdered by his own bodyguard, who said "he did this because Mr Taseer
recently defended the proposed amendments to the blasphemy law." In
another example of justice prevailing, his murderer, Mumtaz Qadri, was executed.
However, lawyers defending Christians and others accused of
blasphemy in Pakistan are sometimes murdered as well. Pakistan's federal
Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, was also murdered for defending
Bibi. Although no one has even been officially executed in Pakistan for the
crime of blasphemy, "many have been murdered purely on the basis of
accusations against them", Newsweek reported. According to Human Rights Watch, since 1990 at least 60 people accused of blasphemy have been
murdered. Last year, a student was lynched by a mob for allegedly committing
blasphemy.
Thousands of extremist Muslims rallied in Pakistan in the last few weeks in
order to pressure judges to uphold the death sentence. They chanted "Hang infidel Asia" as they marched through the
streets. Now Pakistani Islamists say that the judges who acquitted Asia Bibi
"deserve death". That is why Bibi now needs to
flee the country. Several countries have already offered
her asylum.
Since Asia Bibi was condemned to death, Christians in
Pakistan have suffered a string of especially deadly terror attacks. An Islamist suicide bomber even
targeted and slaughtered Christian children at a playground in a public park.
Where was the West?
French priest Pierre-Hervé Grosjean asked in Le
Figaro:
"How could the country of
human rights be silent in the face of this injustice? ... How can one want to
save the Christians of Iraq from the barbarians of ISIS, if one is not able to
save a Christian from the laws of an allied country?... Non-believing friends,
her fate also concerns you: through her, it is the freedom and the dignity of
each one that you defend. Your word is precious and courageous. Your silence
would be terrible".
But the silence has been terrible.
No one took the streets of Europe to protest Asia Bibi's
imprisonment. No major Western columnist penned articles proclaiming "Je
Suis Asia Bibi." Western secular human rights groups, always
ready and willing to embrace any cause, largely remained missing in action. The
campaigners to free terrorists from a relatively comfortable prison in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had no time to ask for Asia Bibi's release. No feminist
organization supported this Christian mother. The United Nations, which just condemned France for its law banning
the niqab, also stood silent. It was a conspiracy of cowardice. [Bold
Text Blog Editor’s]
After years in a windowless cell, Asia Bibi has
triumphed over her would-be executioners. Injustice against Christians will
continue, however, along with the West's craven silence in the face of their
persecution. Asia Bibi's case is also the story of the West's moral suicide.
Where have our philosophers, humanists and journalists been
during these last nine years of injustice? It is this sad indifference that is
devouring the West.
In the ultimate irony, just a few days ago, the so-called
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld the same sort blasphemy law. The ECHR
ruling is unspeakable. As Grégor Puppinck, head of the European Centre for Law
and Justice, said, "the decision by the ECHR would have
justified the conviction of Charlie Hebdo's cartoons..." It is time to
remove the unelected judges of that unaccountable and unappealable court.
Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor
for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
_____________________
Pakistan Court Overturns
Asia Bibi Death Sentence!
Now That’s Some All Saints
Day News
John R. Houk
© November 1, 2018
______________________
Pakistan: Asia Bibi
Acquitted After Years Awaiting Death for "Blasphemy"
The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute. [Blog
Editor: I did not ask for said permission. Upon any request or demand from GI,
this portion of the post will be removed.]
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