Pakistan’s Supreme Court gave Asia Bibi both her life and her freedom back today when they overturned her 2010 conviction for violating the nation’s blasphemy laws.
After Chief Justice Saqib Nisarm read the verdict, AFP Newssaid that Bibi reacted to the verdict over the phone, exclaiming, “I can’t believe what I am hearing, will I go out now? Will they let me out, really?”
Bibi faced the death penalty for a 2009 incident in which Bibi, a Catholic, was accused of blaspheming the prophet Muhammad. Bibi worked as a berry harvester and was asked to retrieve water from a well. CNN reported that her Muslim co-workers refused to drink from the bucket because she is a Christian and her touching the bucket made it unclean. This led to an argument in which she allegedly blasphemed Muhammad and someone reported her to a Muslim cleric.
A court convicted Bibi and sentenced her to death in 2010. Lower courts rejected her original appeals until the Supreme Court agreed to hear her case in 2015.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws continue to generate controversy. Human rights organizations have expressed their dissatisfaction with them, claiming they have primarily been used against minorities and journalists who voice criticism of influential clerics.
There is great internal conflict over the laws within Pakistan as well. In 2011, Mumtaz Qadri served as a bodyguard for…
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