Explained: Why Pakistan’s Asia Bibi was offered asylum in France

The case against Asia Bibi

Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 under dubious circumstances. A BBC report on Asia Bibi said that conservative Muslims don’t like to eat or drink with people of other faith since Christians and some other religious minorities in Pakistan are considered to be impure. In fact, Bibi’s arrest and accusations of her having insulted the Prophet Muhammad followed an incident where Bibi had a sip of water from the same jug that her Muslim co-workers intended to have water from. On the day that the police came for Bibi, she was beaten up by a mob and was charged with blasphemy. In 2010 she was sentenced to death. She was acquitted in 2018 for lack of evidence. The verdict was followed by violent protests led by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik, in support of blasphemy laws. Some of these religious hardliners later filed a petition in the court to overturn her acquittal, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in January 2019.

Blasphemy laws in Pakistan

While Pakistan has not executed anyone on the charges of blasphemy, several extra-judicial killings have been reported. In 2017, a university student Mashal Khan was lynched on charges of blasphemy.

These laws were first introduced in the Indian subcontinent during the British rule. After the rule ended, these laws were expanded in the 1980s, raising concerns about religious freedom in the country.

Pakistan was declared an Islamic Republic in 1956 and in a bid to protect the beliefs and practices of its majority religion that “intended to outrage religious feelings,” the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USIRF) notes, sections 295 and 298 of Pakistan’s Penal Code prohibited those verbal and non-verbal actions that were deemed to be insulting to religious belief and practice. Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code provides punishment for blasphemy and was enacted during the military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq in 1986. The Section reads:

“Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet:

Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”

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Blasphemy cases in Pakistan

Some of the prominent blasphemy cases in the country include the arrest of Christian teenagers Sunny Mushtaq and Noman Asghar, who were arrested for allegedly receiving blasphemous images depicting the Prophet Muhammad in June 2019. In the same year, a Hindu veterinarian Ramesh Kumar was arrested because he allegedly sold medication wrapped in paper that bore Islamic religious text. In 2017, Taimoor Raza was sentenced to death on charges of blasphemy after he allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad on Facebook. Qamar Ahmed Tahir was arrested by the police in November 2015 after he was accused of burning a bag of scrap paper that contained pages from the Qur’an.

Most recently, in December 2019 a court in Pakistan sentenced former university lecturer Junaid Hafeez to death on charges of blasphemy.

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