Asia Bibi

Dony

Blasphemy was written into Irish law until a few weeks ago when a referendum thankfully overturned it. Despite it being a backward law in modern Ireland, no-one was ever jailed for such a trivial offence, never mind fear for their lives after release.

Cliff

By saying justice has been done, would I be wrong to think that you agree with the sentence?

Fred Quimby

If  your referring to my post, I was not condemning the entire population as backward, only the politically orientated and their followers.

faiz0

You would be, yes. Justice has been done in respect her being freed on appeal and the accusation being identified as a pack of lies.

What I take exception to is a nation of 200 million being described as backward. It might pay some people on here to be a lot less inflammatory with some of the remarks they come out with.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Well if you think that a blasphemy offence that followed on from being thirsty, is worthy of four years in prison then in my opinion I think you are backwards in your thinking as well.

Suggesting others are inflammatory whilst condoning a thirsty person goes to prison. You may want to rethink that

faiz0

Absolute rubbish. Where have I condoned it?

Cliff

Backward/ third world/ developing nation/ etc... Interesting discussion of the terms below.
First world problems: why economic development categories need a rethink

Bl4ckGryph0n

You keep repeating that in your opinion justice has been done. Locking someone up for four years for saying some words about a made up character and who is then in fear of her life, doesn’t seem like justice to me. We have a very different ideas of what justice is in the 21st century.

Bl4ckGryph0n

I think Dr Rumy Hassan is correct in that article. Many countries including Pakistan have an extremely long road ahead of them.

faiz0

#88, I’ve already made it clear. You said earlier that ‘justice is the backbone of a nation’. Her case has been taken to the Supreme Court and she’s now been freed. Here’s what was said by the judges:

“In their final judgment, reviewed by CT, reversing Bibi’s convictions by two lower courts and removing her death sentence, the panel of three judges ruled that Bibi was “wrongly” accused by two sisters with the help of a local cleric, based on “material contradictions and inconsistent statements of the witnesses” that “cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution’s version of facts.”

“Furthermore, the alleged extra-judicial confession was not voluntary but rather resulted out of coercion and undue pressure as the appellant was forcibly brought before the complainant in presence of a gathering, who were threatening to kill her; as such, it cannot be made the basis of a conviction,” they wrote.

“Therefore, the appellant being innocent deserves acquittal,” the judges concluded.

One even accused Bibi’s accusers of violating a covenant made by Muhammad with Christians in the seventh century but still valid today.

“Blasphemy is a serious offense,” wrote justice Asif Saeed Khosa, “but the insult of the appellant’s religion and religious sensibilities by the complainant party and then mixing truth with falsehood in the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was also not short of being blasphemous.

“It is ironical that in the Arabic language the appellant’s name Asia means ‘sinful’ but in the circumstances of the present case she appears to be a person, in the words of Shakespeare’s King Leare [sic], ‘more sinned against than sinning.’”

“Commission of blasphemy is abhorrent and immoral besides being a manifestation of intolerance but at the same time a false allegation regarding commission of such an offence is equally detestable besides being culpable.

If our religion of Islam comes down heavily upon commission of blasphemy then Islam is also very tough against those who level false allegations of a crime.

It is, therefore, for the State of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to ensure that no innocent person is compelled or constrained to face an investigation or a trial on the basis of false or trumped up allegations regarding commission of such an offence”.