Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its judgement on the appeal of Aasia Bibi against her conviction and death sentence under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

A three-judge special bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel heard the appeal of the Christian mother of four, who in 2010 became the first woman to be sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

Reserving its verdict, the special bench directed the media to not discuss the case.

As the hearing began, Aasia Bibi’s lawyer Saiful Mulook told the bench that the incident happened on June 14, 2009 and a case was registered on June 19. “A case was filed against Bibi by a cleric in Katanwala village, who alleged that Bibi had confessed to committing blasphemy,” the lawyer said.

Justice Nisar asked, “Are these things on record?” Mulook told the bench that the cleric (prayer leader) himself was not a witness to the incident.

“There are also contradictions regarding how the notice of the incident was taken and the complainant has said the decision to register an FIR against Bibi was taken amid a group of people,” he added.

“Permission was not taken from the district coordination officer (DCO) or the district police officer (DPO) to register the FIR.”

To this, Justice Khosa remarked, “From your statements we have gathered that the Imam himself did not witness the incident as it happened and no blasphemous words were said in his presence.”

“The FIR states that Bibi was a Christian preacher, was she really?” the chief justice asked. Mulook responded in the negative and said, “She was never a preacher.”

After hearing the arguments, the top court reserved its judgment on Bibi’s appeal.

The allegations against Bibi date back to June 2009, when she was labouring in a field and a row broke out with some Muslim women who alleged that she had committed blasphemy. Bibi was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 2010, despite her advocates maintaining her innocence and insisting the accusers held grudges against her.

Published in Daily Times, October 9^th 2018.