A Christian woman sentenced to death on charges of blaspheming said on Saturday she had been wrongfully accused by neighbours due to a personal dispute, and appealed to the president to pardon her. Asia Bibi, mother of four, is the first woman to be sentenced to death under blasphemy law which rights groups say is often exploited by religious extremists as well as ordinary Pakistanis to settle personal scores.
The 36-year-old farm worker was taken into custody by police in June last year and was convicted by a lower court on November 8. She has been in prison since then, with her case drawing international media attention as well as appeals by human rights groups, and, according to Pakistani media, Pope Benedict.
"I told police that I have not committed any blasphemy and this is a wrong accusation, but they did not listen to me," Bibi told reporters after meeting with Salmaan Taseer, governor of the Punjab where she is imprisoned. "I have small kids. I have wrongly been implicated in this false case," she said in the prison, covered in a cloak that only revealed her eyes. Taseer said he would take up Bibi's case with President Asif Ali Zardari, who has the constitutional power to pardon her. "Inshallah (God willing) her appeal will be accepted," Taseer said, adding that he had studied Bibi's case and found that she had not committed any blasphemy.
"She is a helpless Christian woman. She can't legally defend herself because she does not have resources. Implicating such helpless minorities in such cases amounts to ridiculing the constitution of Pakistan," Taseer added. On Friday, Zardari asked the ministry for minorities affairs to compile a report on Bibi's case within three days after Pakistani media suggested the accusations stemmed from a village dispute.
Bibi confirmed she had been involved in a dispute over livestock with her neighbours, but would not give any more details. Pakistani media said the quarrel began when some women who worked on the same farm refused to drink water from a bowl used by Bibi, saying they would not drink or eat anything a non-Muslim has touched.