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By the Associated Press
The Pakistan Supreme Court is due to hear on Monday the latest appeal from a Christian woman sentenced to death since 2010, accused of insulting the Prophet of Islam, a crime that incites crowds to kill and which is automatically punishable by death.
REPORT – In this October 13, 2016 photo, supporters of a Pakistani religious group shout slogans demanding the hanging of a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, in Lahore, Pakistan. The Supreme Court of Pakistan is about to hear the latest appeal of the Christian sentenced to death since 2010, accused of insulting the Prophet of Islam, a crime that incites crowds to kill and carries the automatic death penalty . (AP Photo / K.M. Chaudary, Dossier / MANILA BULLETIN)
Prior to the hearing, attorney Saiful Malook said he was optimistic about his winning the last lawsuit for Aasia Bibi. But otherwise, he was considering asking for a review, which could take years.
"I am 100% sure that she will be acquitted," Malook told The Associated Press during a phone interview on the eve of the hearing. "She has a very good case."
On a hot day in 2009, Bibi went to get some water for her and her fellow farm workers. After taking a sip, some Muslim women got angry at the fact that a Christian drank the same container. They asked that she be converted, she refused. Five days later, a crowd accuses him of blasphemy. She was found guilty and sentenced to death.
Malook said he would argue that the many contradictions of eyewitnesses taint their evidence. Malook added that he would also argue that the witnesses had not been judged in accordance with the Islamic injunctions, which requires proving that they were "pious, never to have lied, of" To be of good character ".
At the international level, Bibi's case provoked outrage. But in Pakistan, it has brought together radical Islamists and militant groups who have adhered to the controversial blasphemy law in Pakistan, using it to cultivate support and attack those who are trying to break their power.
Defending it is dangerous.
"I lost my health. I am a patent for high blood pressure, my privacy is totally lost. You have to hide, "said his lawyer. Everyone in his tree-lined street knows his identity. "They are looking at this house and know it is the home of a person who can be killed at any time by angry mullahs."
Outside Malook's home in Lahore, capital of Punjab province, the police provide permanent security.
In 2011, Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab province, was shot and killed by one of his elite guards for defending Bibi and criticizing the abuse of the blasphemy law. Malook sued his murderer, Mumtaz Qadri, who was hanged for his crime.
Qadri has since become a martyr to millions of people who go on pilgrimage to a shrine erected on his behalf by his family outside the capital Islamabad.
Last month, a newly elected Pakistani government member, led by Imran Khan, a former cricket star who embraced religious conservatism, prayed at the Qadri shrine, sparking an outcry from human rights defenders. man. Supporters of Qadri have openly called for the immediate death of anyone accused of blasphemy.
An unprecedented number of religious parties participated in the July elections that put Khan in power. But as in previous elections, they collected less than 10% of the popular vote. Yet they have allies among all the major parties.
One party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik, won three seats in Sindh province, southern Pakistan, campaigning on one subject: the purpose of the Prophet Muhammad. His supporters are strong supporters of the harsh blasphemy law that prescribes the death penalty for anyone found guilty of insulting Islam.
According to the United States Commission for Religious Freedom around the world, 71 countries have adopted blasphemy laws – about a quarter of them are in the Middle East and North Africa, and about one-fifth are although their application and sanctions vary.
Pakistan is one of the most ferocious leaders.
At least 1,472 people were charged under Pakistan's blasphemy laws between 1987 and 2016, according to statistics collected by the Lahore-based Center for Social Justice. Of these, 730 were Muslim, 501 were Ahmadis – a sect repudiated as heretical by traditional Muslims – while 205 were Christians and 26 Hindus. The center said it did not know the religion of the last 10 because they had been killed by militia before they could go to court.
If Pakistani law provides for the death penalty for blasphemy and the perpetrators have been sentenced to death, no one has been executed yet.
Malook said that an acquittal could generate protests across the country. In the past, people accused of blasphemy, but later released, had to flee Pakistan for their safety.
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