ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court will on Tuesday begin a review of its acquittal of a Christian woman charged with blasphemy, a verdict that sparked days of Islamist protests over a case that has divided society and incited killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asia Bibi, who spent eight years on death row, has been in hiding since the Supreme Court freed her in October, with religious hardliners calling for her death and demanding that the government prevent her from leaving the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most reviews of Supreme Court verdicts are dismissed immediately, but the controversy, anger and fear surrounding the case has added an extra layer of uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A three-judge panel, including new Supreme Court Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, is due to hear the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bibi\u2019s lawyer, Saif-ul-Malook, who fled to Europe due to fears for his safety last year, told Reuters he expected the case to be dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey have filed the petition on flimsy grounds. They haven\u2019t attempted to counter her release on constitutional grounds,\u201d said Malook, who returned to Pakistan this week and will represent Bibi in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGod willing, she will have the decision in her favor tomorrow. She will be a free person to go anywhere she wants to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If allowed to do so, Bibi is widely expected to seek asylum abroad due to safety concerns. In November, Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau said his country was in talks with Pakistan about helping her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bibi, a farm worker, was convicted in 2010 of making derogatory remarks about Islam after neighbors working in the fields with her objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has always denied committing blasphemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his bodyguard in 2011 after speaking in Bibi\u2019s defense. Federal minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti was killed later that year after calling for her release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The violence stifled debate on Pakistan\u2019s draconian blasphemy law, which critics say is often abused and unfairly targets religious minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protesting members of the hardline Islamist Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) group, founded by supporters of Taseer\u2019s assassin, blocked main roads in Pakistan\u2019s biggest cites for three days after Bibi\u2019s acquittal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They called for the killing of the Supreme Court judges who freed her, urging their cooks and servants to murder them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The TLP called off the protests after striking a deal with the government to put Bibi on an \u201cexit control list\u201d, barring her from leaving the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government later cracked down on the TLP, detaining more than 3,000 activists and pressing terrorism charges against its leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The TLP\u2019s acting chief, Shafeeq Ameeni, warned that the court panel should not make a \u201cwrong decision\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will not tolerate an attack on the sanctity of our prophet,\u201d he said in a video statement.Foreign troops to quit Afghanistan: Taliban<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want the country to go up in flames because of a wrong decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bibi\u2019s case has outraged Christians worldwide and dismayed moderate Pakistanis, though few dare to speak out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo one should be able to intimidate the Supreme Court into reversing a long-overdue ruling. Asia Bibi has been found to be innocent,\u201d said Omar Waraich, deputy South Asia director for Amnesty International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe should now finally be free to be reunited with her family and leave the country if she chooses.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court will on Tuesday begin a review of its acquittal of a Christian woman charged with blasphemy, a verdict that sparked days of Islamist protests over a case that has divided society and incited killings. Asia Bibi, who spent eight years on death row, has been in hiding since the Supreme Court freed her in… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2987,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions\/2987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}