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According to Pakistan Supreme Court Judge Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, women who refused to drink water from Christian Asia Bibi insulted her religion and are no less blasphemous. In his concordant and separate opinion on the final order announced on October 31, acquitting Asia Bibi of blasphemy, he said: "According to the Qur'an, a Muslim's faith is not complete as long as He does not believe in all the holy prophets and messengers of the Almighty Allah, including Jesus Christ (Isa son of Maryam) and all the revealed holy books of Allah Almighty, including the Holy Bible . From this point of view, insulting the applicant's religion on the part of her Muslim colleagues was no less blasphemous. "
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, and Judges Khosa and Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel issued a landmark order that condemned the investigation into the blasphemy case against Asia Bibi and annulled the judgments of the High Court and the Lahore Court of First Instance, as well as the death penalty. The order stated that when there was any doubt in the prosecution's narrative, it had to be given to the accused, which is entirely compatible with an administration. safe from criminal justice.
Asia Bibi was released from Multan prison on the night of November 7, but rumors that she left the country are unconfirmed. Her husband has sought asylum abroad for herself and her family because it is dangerous for them to live in Pakistan. His lawyer Saif-ul-Malook has already left the country.
Asia Bibi image file
The main witnesses, Asma and Mafia, who had learned the Qur'an through the plaintiff's wife Qari Muhammed Salaam, had conveniently omitted that there was a quarrel when Asia Bibi offered water to Muslim women who were picking blue berries (falsa) in a field of Ittanwali village (Firozpur district, Punjab) on June 14, 2009. They refused to accept water from a Christian, after which a fight took place place. This fact is not mentioned in their testimonials and in the first information report (FIR). It is thanks to the court witness and the investigator, who are independent witnesses, that this has been brought to light, Judge Khosa noted.
The court found that the case of blasphemy was fraught with inconsistencies and contradictions leading to its release. He also demolished with numerous quotes from the Qur'an and scriptures claiming that Islam was against Christianity.
Nine long years after filing a blasphemy case against her and three years after the appeal lodged by Asia Bibi against her death sentence in 2014, she is finally free, but despite the vicious protests and l & rsquo; Antipathy to his release, his freedom to continue life in his own home with her husband and two children is in danger. After his acquittal, which provoked numerous protests, the government signed an agreement with fundamentalists shouting for their blood, demanding that they not be allowed to leave the country. After the order, Qari Salaam filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, challenging the acquittal and requesting the inclusion of Asia Bibi on the exit checklist pending the review proceedings.
The court pointed out that since 1990, 62 people have been killed for blasphemy. In 2017, Mashal Khan, a student at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, had been killed by a crowd at the university's premises after rumors put online content "blasphemous".
In 2012, young Rimsha Masih, a mentally disabled girl, was arrested for blasphemy. She was also acquitted and had to apply for asylum abroad a year later. The complainant, a member of the clergy, as in this case, filed a false complaint that Rimsha had torn and burned copies of the Koran. Former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was shot dead by his guard Malik Mumtaz Qadri on 4 January 2011 for apologizing to Asia Bibi and attacking the blasphemy law. A few months later, Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistani Minister of Minorities, was also killed. There was a time when few lawyers agreed to represent Asia Bibi and despaired after Qadri did not seem to be on the point of being punished until 2016, the year of his execution.
Under a large tree in the Kohsar market in Islamabad, every year in January, a small group of relatives and friends gather to commemorate this place under a tree where Taseer was pumped with bullets by his guard. He was finally justified for supporting Asia, an attitude that cost him his life.
"Blasphemy is a serious offense, but the plaintiff insulted the appellant's religion and his religious sensibilities, and then mixed truth and lies in the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad was not far from being blasphemous. It is paradoxical that in Arabic the name of the appellant, Asia, means "sinner", but that, in the circumstances of this case, she appears to be a person, in Shakespeare's terms. King Lear"More sin than to sin," Judge Khosa added.
He invokes covenants, including the alliance of the Prophet Muhammad with the monks of Mount Sinai, known as the promise made to St. Catherine. Around the year 628 AD, a delegation from St Catherine's Monastery, the world's oldest monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, came to the Holy Prophet Muhammad to ask for his protection. He responded by granting them a charter of rights, not limited to St. Catherine alone. The promise is clearly violated in this case and in others.
Although the incident took place on June 14, 2009, the two women, Mafia and Asma, the two sisters and Yasmin (who was not subsequently seen) reported this fact to the woman Qari Salaam, who took five days – June 19 – to file a complaint. Police complaint to Sadar Nankana Sahib. The same day, Asia was summoned to a public meeting where she confessed her guilt.
In reviewing the case, the court found many inconsistencies in the witnesses' accounts and the serious omission of the water quarrel in their stories. According to the law (article 156 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure), cases of blasphemy must be investigated by a police office with the rank of chief of police (SP). However, a police inspector investigated the case and then SP Muhammed Amin Bukhari of Sheikhupura only on June 26th.
The court said that Asia Bibi, in her statement recorded under Article 342 of the CPP, had expressed all her respect for the Holy Prophet and the Holy Quran and that she had offered to lend oath on the Bible to the investigator (IO) to prove his innocence that was refused by the OI. Therefore, the appellant being innocent, he must be acquitted. In addition, no prior authorization from the central / provincial government was obtained prior to the registration of the FIR, in accordance with the law.
The case of cleric Qari Salaam was based on the statements of Asma and Mafia who claimed that Asia Bibi had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. However, they also mentioned the presence of 25 to 30 women, but none of them had come to testify. The judges felt that the five-day delay in the registration of the incident statement "seriously began the history of the prosecution" and added that while keeping in mind The evidence filed by the prosecution against the alleged blasphemy committed by the appellant, the prosecution has categorically failed to prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt. "
The Chief Justice completed his part of the order with a quote from the Prophet Muhammad:
"One must beware of anyone who is cruel and hard on a non-Muslim minority, or restricts their rights, or imposes on them more than they can bear, or takes away anything against their free will; Muhammad) I will complain against this person on the day of judgment. "
Judge Khosa concluded "that the evidence produced by the prosecution regarding the said public meeting five days after the incident and what happened there was not only afterwards, but also constituted of a pure incarnation ". He also found it odd that Qari Salaam did not remember who drafted the FIR and where he had submitted it for grading. He was not present at the time of the incident. The applicant and the FIR hosted by him did not deserve much merit, he said.
This order is important to the extent that the appeal of Asia Bibi was the first call for blasphemy under Section 295-C (defamation of the Prophet Muhammad) heard by the Supreme Court since 2002, said Reema Omer, International Legal Counsel, South Asia Program, International Commission of Jurists. Until now, the court has not confirmed any convictions for blasphemy under Article 295-C, although dozens of people have been convicted by lower courts and that is why they have not been found guilty. a number of appeals are pending before various appellate bodies. High courts have also upheld convictions for blasphemy under Section 295-C only in a few cases. The Supreme Court also noted that the context indicates that the charges could result from a "false allegation" of blasphemy, echoing the concerns also expressed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Pakistan's blasphemy laws have generally become an instrument of defense. personal vendettas and malicious motives.
Mr. Omer, however, indicated that given the context in which allegations of blasphemy were made – including serious violations of the right to a fair trial because of threats to the accused, their families, judges and lawyers, that the bias against profanity blasphemy that has an impact on the impartiality of the process – it is unlikely that this single judgment can make a difference in the way cases are decided.
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