How many of you are aware of the situation that's happening with Asia Bibi in Pakistan? Excellent discussion about the situation, I suggest you carefully listen to the entire interview, Nina Shea discussion with Raymond Arroyo Her lawyer has fled to the Netherlands. Something really notable in that video that I thought jumped out, the lawyer Saiful Mulook said: "As for as myself is concerned, I being a muslim, it was really very very difficult to us to make the people understanding, that why I'm defending a Christian woman..." The Pakistani muslims want her dead, and it's very likely she won't survive. Just a few highlights from the transcript: Arroyo: "Now, her lawyer is on the run. Can he really defend her from the Netherlands? When we should say, the Supreme Court has a petition to review the case before it, might the overturning of this case get overturned?" Shea: "It's quite possible, anything could happen, because as you said, the justice is on the line now, his life is on the line, and there's an ever expanding circle of people: the jailer who lets her out, the driver who drives her to the airport, any of those people could be killed, they have been threatened, anybody who facilitates her escape... And this has happened, there have been acquitted defendants murdered on the steps of the Supreme Court in Pakistan, judges, lawyers killed; and human rights lawyers and journalists are also very much a targeted group over there." Arroyo: "Give me you sense about these blasphemy laws, we have talked about these in the past... and in Pakistan, from 1986 just to give people some historical perspective, General Zia added a new clause, that mandated the death penalty for anyone who blasphemed the prophet. Now, between 1927 and 1986 there were seven cases. In 2015 alone, it reached 1300 cases, plus. What is happening, and what can we in the West do about it?" Shea: "Well, these kinds of laws - and by the way, I feel the same way about the hate speech laws, and they are proxies in Europe now for Muslim blasphemy laws - "
The problem is that the religion gives power to the people, to right these wrongs against Muhammed and Islam. Kinda sicko. What can we in the west do about it, not a damn thing. Just don't let them in here, thinking they will leave that BS. overseas.
The UK has refused to grant her asylum because they're afraid it could offend the muslims, and possibly spark attacks in the UK. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...fered-uk-asylum-amid-concerns-unrest-attacks/ Anyway, it's very likely she might not be safe in the UK either.
We have Muslim apostates hunted here in America, granted we have an ocean between us and the main source of the danger, but it is just a matter of time before it happens here, if it hasn't already. We have had honor killings.
It's a really unfortunate thing. I hate state religions, hate, hate, hate them. Or even when the majority religion forces others to follow their rules. For a lot of these it isn't about respect it is about control. Keeping people down and second class so you can discriminate against them. Gah this case is one of so many atrocious things in the world
Let's review what happened. Asia Bebi was working as a field hand. It was very hot. She was told to go draw some water from a well, and when she got to the well she found an old metal cup and was so thirsty she used the cup to take a drink of water from the bucket. Another of the female workers who saw this got angry and said she wasn't going to drink from the same cup a Christian woman had touched. An argument ensued. The two other women got angry and accused her of blasphemy. This is not an uncommon tactic when muslims get angry at non-muslims in that region, they will make up claims that the non-muslim person who offended them said something that offended Islam. According to Asia Bebi, the two other women made derogatory statements about Christianity and demanded that she convert to Islam, to which she responded, "I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save mankind? And why should it be me that converts instead of you?" This enraged the other women all the more. A mob came to her house, beating her and members of her family before she was taken away by the police. After spending 16 months in prison, she was sentenced to death, and on top of that a fine that would have completely bankrupted her family. The governor of Punjab tried to secure a Presidential pardon for her, in the event the High Court refused to overturn the death sentence, but the High Court not only upheld the verdict but also issued a stay order against Presidential pardon. The governor of Punjab visited Asia Bebi in prison, but he would later be assassinated for his public support of her. Asia Bebi was held in solitary confinement in an 8 by 10 foot cell without windows. Knowing that her life was in danger in the prison, prison officials began giving her raw ingredients to cook her own food so she wouldn't be poisoned. She was held in prison for about 9 years, and the appeals court kept delaying the hearing, hoping that the angry public sentiment would eventually blow over, and then she could be released. There were many people in the public demanding her death. More than 9 years after she had been put in prison, the Supreme Court finally acquitted her of the blasphemy charges, saying that the two witnesses against her were lying, and made an order that she should be released. However, she was not immediately released. The government also officially barred her from being able to leave the country (even as she had not been released from prison at the time). Just five days ago, she was finally released from prison in secret.
