{"id":5209,"date":"2010-11-10T06:27:14","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T06:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/11\/pakistani-christian-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy.html"},"modified":"2010-11-10T06:27:14","modified_gmt":"2010-11-10T06:27:14","slug":"pakistani-christian-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/11\/pakistani-christian-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy.html","title":{"rendered":"Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for “blasphemy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Details, from the British paper the Telegraph: <\/a><\/p>\n

\nA Christian woman has been sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed.<\/p>\n

\"Asia-Bibi-_1758048c.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination.<\/p>\n

Christian groups and human rights campaigners condemned the verdict and called for the blasphemy laws to be repealed.<\/p>\n

Her supporters say she will now appeal against the sentence handed down in a local court in the town of Sheikhupura, near Lahore, Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Ashiq Masih, her husband, said he had not had the heart to break the news to two of their children.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t told two of my younger daughters about the court’s decision,” he said. “They asked me many times about their mother but I can’t get the courage to tell them that the judge has sentenced their mother to capital punishment for a crime she never committed.” Mrs Bibi has been held in prison since June last year.<\/p>\n

The court heard she had been working as a farmhand in fields with other women, when she was asked to fetch drinking water.<\/p>\n

Some of the other women – all Muslims – refused to drink the water as it had been brought by a Christian and was therefore “unclean”, according to Mrs Bibi’s evidence, sparking a row.<\/p>\n

The incident was forgotten until a few days later when Mrs Bibi said she was set upon by a mob.<\/p>\n

The police were called and took her to a police station for her own safety.<\/p>\n

Shahzad Kamran, of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan, said: “The police were under pressure from this Muslim mob, including clerics, asking for Asia to be killed because she had spoken ill of the Prophet Mohammed.<\/p>\n

“So after the police saved her life they then registered a blasphemy case against her.” He added that she had been held in isolation for more than a year before being sentenced to death on Monday. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Details, from the British paper the Telegraph: A Christian woman has been sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed. Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination. Christian groups…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nPakistani Christian sentenced to death for "blasphemy" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/11\/pakistani-christian-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for "blasphemy" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Details, from the British paper the Telegraph: A Christian woman has been sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed. Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination. Christian groups…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/11\/pakistani-christian-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-10T06:27:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/11\/Asia-Bibi-_1758048c-thumb-250x155-19183.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jmcgee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for \"blasphemy\" - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/11\/pakistani-christian-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for \"blasphemy\" - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"Details, from the British paper the Telegraph: A Christian woman has been sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed. 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