[ad_1]
Asia Bibi was desperately thirsty when she took a cup of water in an open pit in 2009, as a worker in a fruit tree plantation in the Pakistani countryside. The illiterate mother of five children was one of the few Christians working in a predominantly Muslim environment. who have often been discriminated against for their beliefs. When Bibi plunged her mug into the well for another glass of water, Muslim workers blamed her for contaminating only the water intended for Muslims, according to her Blasphemy memoir: Sentenced to death for a cup of water, told the French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet who co-wrote the book. A quarrel ensued and someone shouted "blasphemy", accusing Bibi of "profaning the name of the Prophet Muhammad".
She was beaten, arrested and sentenced to death by hanging. Nine years later, after a global scandal and pleas for her release from presidents, prime ministers and popes, a Pakistani court acquitted her of the crime, citing the lack of evidence that she actually spoke. of the prophet. The court quoted Shakespeare & # 39; s King Lear in his belief that Bibi had "been more sin than sin."
But Bibi has not yet been released from fear for his security and incessant protests from the Pakistani Islamist movement Tehreek-e Labbaik, who has called on the Pakistan Supreme Court to review the acquittal. Days of anger and death threats ensued in Islamabad and Lahore, forcing Bibi's husband and children to hide. Even his lawyer, Saiful Mulook, fled the country to escape death threats. He is currently in the Netherlands waiting for a request for asylum in this country.
It now seems that Bibi could find refuge in Italy after her husband, Ashiq Masih, issued a video statement through the Catholic Aid to the Church in Distress or ACN group. In the message, Masih, sitting next to the couple's daughter Eisham, who was working alongside her mother when she was beaten and arrested, asks Italy, besides America, the Canada and other European countries, to find refuge.
"I appeal to the Italian government for it to help me and my family to leave Pakistan," Masih told ACN. "We are extremely worried because our lives are in danger. We do not even have enough to eat because we can not go out to buy food. "
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who has a long history of anti-Islam, said that Italy would do everything possible to ensure the freedom and security of Bibi. "I want the women and children whose lives are in danger to have a secure future, in our country or in other Western countries, so I will do everything humanly possible to guarantee it," he said. Salvini in an interview with an Italian Italian radio station. "It is not permissible that in 2018, anyone could risk losing their lives for a blasphemy assumption."
He added that if Bibi and her family benefited from asylum in Italy, they would enjoy the same protection as that offered to people threatened with death by the mafia. More than 200 people are currently protected 24 hours a day in Italy.
In February, ACN lit the old Roman red coliseum at a ceremony in Rome to pray for Bibi and other persecuted Christians during which Pope Francis met the husband and children of Bibi and told them, "I often think about your mother and I pray for her. "ACN announced its intention to dye the Venice lagoon red. if Bibi is not released and allowed to leave Pakistan.
Source link
