Asia Bibi has been acquitted of blasphemy by the Pakistani Supreme Court. Before that, she spent eight years in prison on death row. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. Many people who have been accused of blasphemy in Pakistan have been lynched by mobs without ever having been tried, and her acquittal has enraged some elements within the nation. Until she is able to leave Pakistan, she will never be safe. In fact, even if she makes it out of that country safely, she will always be in danger from people who believe that she blasphemed. The British government has refused to grant her asylum for fear that her presence will cause riots in that country.
Asia Bibi suffered in prison for eight years for her faith in Jesus Christ. May that same Christ now grant her safety, security, serenity, and peace.
“Asia Bibi family being hunted ‘house to house’ in Pakistan,” by Harriet Sherwood, Guardian, November 21, 2018:
The family of Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent eight years on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy before being acquitted three weeks ago, claim they are being hunted by extremists going house to house with their photographs to try to track them down.
Bibi’s family have been in hiding since her acquittal by the country’s supreme court. She is in protective custody as part of a deal between the government and a hardline Islamic party, under which violent protests were called off while a review of the court ruling was undertaken.
Bibi’s lawyer, relatives and supporters have appealed for the family to be given asylum in a European or north American country. Several countries have indicated their willingness to offer a home, but nothing concrete has emerged.
John Pontifex, of Aid to the Church in Need UK (ACN), which has campaigned on Bibi’s behalf since she was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010, said he had been in almost daily contact with her family over the past three weeks and they were very frightened.
“They have told me that mullahs had been reported in their neighbourhood going from house to house showing photos of family members on their phones, trying to hunt them down,” he told the Guardian.
“The family have had to move from place to place to avoid detection. Sometimes they can only operate after sundown. They have had to cover their faces when they go out in public. They have had to remove the rosary that hangs from their car rear-view mirror for fear of attack.”
Pontifex said the family’s faith was “sustaining them in this time of acute danger”. He added: “They say that if they are not allowed to find a future outside Pakistan, the fear is that sooner or later something terrible might happen to them.”…
On Tuesday, Sayeeda Warsi told the House of Lords: “There have been press reports that Asia Bibi, if granted asylum in the United Kingdom, would potentially not be safe from some communities here … As someone who is deeply connected to British Muslim communities, I assure her that they are fully supportive of any asylum claim that Asia Bibi may have and that our country may afford her, and that she would be supported as she would be by all other communities in this country.”…
