Christian Asia Bibi who spent years on death row in Pakistan on a blasphemy charge, has moved to Canada to join her family, according to her lawyer. Bibi and her family had to stay in hiding even after she was released.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Bureau
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Asia Bibi has been reunited with her family, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday.
"The United States welcomes the news that Asia Bibi has safely reunited with her family," Pompeo said in a statement. "Asia Bibi is now free, and we wish her and her family all the best following their reunification."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to confirm whether she has arrived in Canada.
"There are sensitive privacy issues and security issues on this and so I can't comment," Trudeau told reporters outside parliament.
However, UK Prime Minister Theresa May appeared to confirm she had gone to Canada: "Canada made this offer and we thought it was right and appropriate that we supported the offer that Canada had made," May said.
Leaving in secret
A family member told DW that Bibi's daughters were waiting for her in the Canadian city of Calgary and that "Canadian authorities will keep the family under tight security and Bibi will not interact with media."
The family told DW late on Tuesday, before the flight, that they had been asked to prepare to leave in secret.
Bibi's departure was delayed for six months after her acquittal, reportedly due to extreme pressure from the deep state not to speak out. Bibi was not allowed to complete paperwork to finalize her asylum in the West. Diplomatic and government sources in Islamabad confirmed the move to DW.
After the Supreme Court order to release Bibi, the 53-year-old mother-of-five was shifted to the southern port city of Karachi last November. There, she was put into protective custody, as she was constantly facing death threats from Islamist hardliners. Bibi's lawyer Saif ul Malook left the country in November last year, also after receiving death threats.
"We are happy that she fled the country after long delays and got justice. We were concerned about her safety but were not allowed to meet her or even speak with her over the phone to complete the paperwork," one diplomat told DW.
Asia Bibi case highlights Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws
Asia Bibi, a Pakistani-Christian woman, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court on blasphemy charges in 2010. Who is Bibi, and why has her case attracted international attention?
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Leaving 'for Canada'
A decade after being accused of blasphemy, Asia Bibi left Pakistan with her husband Ashiq Masih for Canada. A family member told DW that Bibi's two daughters were waiting for her in Calgary. Her departure was delayed six months, reportedly due to extreme pressure from the deep state not to speak out against the state when she leaves the country.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Ali
A dispute over water
In 2009, Asia Bibi was accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad while she was working in a field in Punjab's Sheikhupura district. The Muslim women who were working with Bibi objected to her fetching water, saying that as a non-Muslim she was not allowed to touch the water bowl. The women then complained to a local cleric and leveled blasphemy charges against Bibi.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A sensitive matter
According to local media, the argument in the field led to a mob attack on Bibi's house. Later, police took Bibi into custody and launched an investigation into the blasphemy accusations. Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the population is Muslim.
Image: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images
Controversial law
The blasphemy law was introduced by General Zia-ul-Haq, a military dictator, in the 1980s. Activists say they are often implemented in cases that have little to do with blasphemy and are used to settle petty disputes and personal vendettas. Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis — a minority Islamic sect — are often victimized as a result.
Image: Noman Michael
The Pakistani state vs. Bibi
In 2010, a lower court convicted Bibi of blasphemy. Although the defense lawyer argued that the blasphemy allegations were made to settle personal scores, the court sentenced Bibi to death by hanging. Bibi's family has been living under constant fear since 2010. Her husband, Ashiq Masih (R), says he has been fighting a battle for his wife's freedom ever since.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Assassination of critics
In 2010, Salman Taseer (R), the then governor of Punjab province, backed Bibi and demanded amendments in the blasphemy laws. Taseer's anti-blasphemy law position angered extremists. In 2011, Taseer was gunned down by his own bodyguard in Islamabad. The same year, Shahbaz Bhatti, the then minister for minorities and a prominent blasphemy law critic, was also assassinated by unidentified gunmen.
Image: AP
Celebration of killings
After Taseer's murder, Qadri became a hero for Pakistani Islamists. Qadri was showered with rose petals by right-wing groups as he was taken to jail by the authorities. Qadri was sent to the gallows in 2016. Thousands of people – mostly supporters of Islamic groups – attended Qadri's funeral. Local media reported that Qadri's supporters built a shrine after his death to honor him.
Image: AP
Fear in the judicial community
After the killings of blasphemy law critics, many lawyers refused to take up Bibi's case in the higher courts. In 2014, the Lahore High Court upheld her death sentence. Pakistan's top court, the Supreme Court, was scheduled to hear Bibi's appeal against the conviction in 2016, but one judge refused to be a part of the judicial bench, citing personal reasons.
Image: Reuters/F. Mahmood
Victims of blasphemy law
According to the American Centre for Law and Justice, at least 40 Pakistanis were sentenced to death on blasphemy charges in 2016. The law is often used to target religious minorities and secular Muslims. Although there hasn't been any legal execution under the blasphemy law, there have been instances where angry mobs have lynched alleged blasphemers.
Image: APMA
Persecution of religious minorities
Pakistan's Christians and other religious minorities complain of legal and social discrimination in their country. In the past few years, many Christians and Hindus have been brutally murdered over unproven blasphemy allegations.
Image: RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images
Threats from Islamists
Religious extremists in Pakistan, particularly the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) group, have warned the authorities against reversing Bibi's blasphemy verdict. The country's Christian minority fears that if the judges decide to reverse the death sentence, they could face a violent backlash from the country's hardline Islamic groups.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. K. Bangash
International support for Bibi
Rights groups and Western governments demand a fair trial in Bibi's case. In 2015, Bibi's daughter met with Pope Francis, who offered prayers for her mother at the Vatican. In 2014, Amnesty International dubbed the Lahore High Court's verdict against Bibi a "grave injustice." The American Centre for Law and Justice also condemned Bibi's sentence and urged Islamabad to protect religious minorities.
Bibi's case attracted international attention, with many Western countries rejecting both capital punishment and the concept that blasphemy — the perceived insult of a deity or religion — is a crime. However, it also prompted major protests in Pakistan as people called for her execution.
Following the Supreme Court verdict of Bibi's acquittal, the ultra-violent Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) party took to the streets, bringing Pakistan to a standstill for three days. Eventually, TLP entered into a written pact with the government to not oppose the Supreme Court's decision to reverse the verdict against Bibi, on condition that Islamabad put her on the country's Exit Control List (ECL). The ECL is a list of people forbidden to leave Pakistan. The deal drew strong criticism from human rights activists.
But her exit from Pakistan now has been welcomed by rights groups. "It is a great relief that this shameful ordeal has finally come to an end and Asia Bibi and her family are safe. She should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone endure the constant threats to her life. This case horrifyingly illustrates the dangers of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and the urgent need to repeal them," Omar Waraich, Deputy South Asia Director, Amnesty International told DW.
Pakistan was brought to a standstill late in 2018 by protests against Bibi's acquittalImage: AFP/Getty Images/A. Hassan
Bibi, a poor laborer from the central Punjab and a mother-of-five, was sentenced to death in 2010. She was charged with blasphemy, accused of making derogatory remarks against Islam's Prophet Mohammed.
Her ordeal became emblematic for the problems faced by the country's tiny Christian minority, comprising only 2.6% of the population of 208 million.
Pakistan's blasphemy law dates back to British colonial rule.
