you should have disparagingly commented on the prophet Muhammad. – After eight years on death row because of blasphemy convicted Christian woman Asia Bibi has been spoken in Pakistan.
The decision of the Supreme court, the death sentence against the 51-Year-old, broke in the predominantly Muslim country of anger radical Islamic groups. Thousands blocked the capital Islamabad’s streets and looted government buildings, authorities said. In Lahore, attempted followers of a radical group to storm the regional Parliament. The government has sent authorities, according to soldiers in the larger cities.
“today’s acquittal of Asia Bibi by the Supreme court is an important success in the struggle for the freedom of religion in Pakistan”, informed the Commissioner for churches and religious communities, Hermann Gröhe, and the human rights policy spokesman of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag, Michael Brand,. They demanded that the government of Pakistan to take further steps to strengthen the freedom of religion and human rights in the country. Especially the blasphemy laws will not be acceptable.
The five-fold mother, Asia Bibi, was accused of having a dispute with Muslim women in her village made derogatory comments about the prophet Mohammed voiced. She was taken 2009 and in the following year, according to an internationally controversial blasphemy law had been sentenced to death. This had sparked criticism. The then-Pope Benedict XVI continued, unsuccessfully, for the release of the woman. In 2011, the liberal Governor of Pakistan, was shot in the largest province of Punjab, because he defended Bibi and the blasphemy had criticized the laws. In 2014, a higher court in Lahore, capital of Punjab, confirmed the death sentence.
The Supreme court in Islamabad found that the accusations against Bibi should be weakly justified and there is no reason to punish you. The three judges had arranged for her immediate release, her lawyer Saiful Malook on Wednesday. Islamists started then countrywide and sometimes violent protests. Leader of the radical group, Tehreek-e-and excellence Pakistan (TLP) resulted in the death of the judge. At the same time, they vowed to continue their protests.
before the ruling, the authorities had intensified the security measures around the court. In view of the violent reactions, the government ordered the deployment of the military to restore order. Soldiers of a paramilitary unit patrolled in Islamabad the court building and the Parliament.
Even after Lahore, the million city in the East of the country, was appointed to the military. There, members of TLP had tried to storm the regional Parliament, such as the Punjab Region, the competent Minister of information, Fayyaz Chohan reported. In Karachi took parents out of fear of clashes their children from school. Employees left their offices to rush home. Traffic jams were the result.
The International society for human rights (ISHR) in Frankfurt am Main, welcomed the courage of the judges and described their decision as a milestone. Representatives of the authorities have unofficially informed that Asia Bibi is now free. “The decision is a brave attempt of the state to provide the Islamists the forehead”, the Analyst said Irfan Shehzad on Wednesday. Thus the confidence of religious minorities in the state institutions could be restored, said other experts. Just with the help of the blasphemy laws members of other religions had been, in the past, Muslims are intimidated.
The courts but also the Parliament and the military of the country had been spared in the past, to make decisions, the violent Islamist groups, anger. Observers assumed that the protests are first to go.
dpa
