Will Pakistan execute a 53-year-old woman for being a Christian?
Will Pakistan execute a 53-year-old woman for being a Christian?
Does Pakistan's Supreme Court have the courage to free Asia Bibi, a 53-year-old illiterate Christian woman sentenced to death since 2010 for "blasphemy," while thousands of Islamic extremists across the country seek her blood?
If the court releases Ms. Bibi, the best-known victim of a cruel blasphemy law that is often used to attack religious minorities, it will represent a rare victory in the Islamic Republic for the compassionate religious passion. If the judges respect the death sentence against her, she will mark another victory for the agitators of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy and another setback for non-Muslims and moderate Muslims.
Either way, the heartbreaking story of Asia Bibi has a moral: giving in to the demands of the Islamists does not satisfy his appetite for repression. It awakens him.
At this point, Mrs. Bibi's fate should have been clear. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear his long-overdue appeal. But on October 8, after hearing the arguments, the court said it would wait indefinitely to declare its verdict.
The probable reason: protests by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, a hard-line Islamic party whose leaders warn of "terrible consequences" if Bibi is allowed to flee abroad. They threaten to paralyze the country with sit-ins if it is acquitted. Thousands of protesters have preemptively taken the streets of Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and other cities.
Ms. Bibi's problems began with a dispute over a cup of water on a stifling summer day in Punjab. According to the story, two Muslim women accused Ms. Bibi, an agricultural worker and mother of five children, of polluting the cup by drinking from her. Mrs. Bibi allegedly told them that Jesus had "died on the cross for the sins of mankind" and asked: "What did your prophet Muhammad do to save mankind?"
Nobody knows if this strong defense of their faith was what condemned Mrs. Bibi to death. In Pakistan, discussing "blasphemous" comments is considered blasphemous. Ms. Bibi denies blasphemy and says she respects the Koran and the prophet.
Shortly after the dispute, the villagers accused Ms. Bibi of blasphemy and imprisoned her. The following year, a court sentenced her to death. She lives in a windowless cell, where she cooks herself out of fear of intoxication from prison staff or a prisoner.
In this context, defending Ms. Bibi requires courage. In 2011, a bodyguard murdered the Punjab governor, Salmaan Taseer, for visiting Ms. Bibi in jail and calling Pakistan's blasphemy statute a "black law" prone to abuse. Two months later, gunmen killed Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian politician who also opposed the law.
Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the bad-tempered cleric who leads the BPD, greets the murderer of Taseer, who was executed two years ago, as a martyr and asks that all blasphemers be killed. Mr. Rizvi has used the subject of blasphemy to catapult himself to national prominence. In the July national elections, the TLP obtained more than two million votes.
Meanwhile, Ms. Bibi has become an international symbol of Stoic suffering. Human rights groups and the United States Department of State regularly highlight their case. Pope Benedict XVI asked for his release and Pope Francis has met with his family. Earlier this year, activists illuminated the Rome Coliseum in red in solidarity with her and other persecuted Christians.
Pakistan's restrictions on blasphemy go back to the British government, but it was not until 1986 that Islamist dictator Zia ul-Haq punished him with death. Asad Ahmed, an anthropologist, estimates that Pakistan prosecuted less than 10 people for blasphemy in the four decades prior to the passage of Zia's law. In the three decades that followed, that number skyrocketed to about 1,500.
According to the Social Justice Center in Lahore, non-Muslims make up approximately 3% of Pakistan's population, but they account for more than half of the cases. The Ahmadiyya Muslims, whom Pakistan classifies as non-Muslims, and Christians are frequent targets, and often an accusation is enough for a group of lynchers to murder the alleged blasphemer.
Your international profile increases the chances that Ms. Bibi will be acquitted and find a new home in the West. Although this would be welcome, it will not indicate a deeper change. Prime Minister Imran Khan has long supported the death penalty for blasphemy, saying it helps keep the peace in society.
It may be too late for Pakistan to reject the madness it has unleashed. But the rest of us can learn a simple lesson: surrendering to Islamists is never a good idea.
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