Hearing of the final court appeal of Asia Bibi – accused of blasphemy, in the Pakistan Supreme Court was indefinitely adjourned on October 13, 2016 after one of the judges pulled out of the three-member bench hearing the appeal. As per the media reports, the judiciary is under tremendous pressure from the hardline religious groups who want to ensure execution of “blasphemous” Bibi.
Image: The Christian Post
Bibi, a mother of five from rural Punjab was convicted of blasphemy following an argument with her Muslim coworkers. According to a report, her coworkers allegedly refused to drink from the water bowl fetched by her. They claimed it was “contaminated” because she's a Christian.
Five days later, an imam who was allegedly not present during the argument accused her of defaming the prophet. Despite insisting she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination, Bibi was sentenced to be hanged the following year.
The news report says that citing the reason of “conflict of interest” one of the judges – Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman requested to be replaced from the three-judge bench constituted for Bibi’s hearing.
As per the reports, Justice Rehman told the court, "I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salman Taseer, and this case is related to that." A letter was written to the chief justice to appoint another judge to the bench.
Former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated in 2011 after he supported Bibi of Christian faith, who was convicted of blasphemy in 2010. His assassin Mumtaz Qadri was executed after he was found guilty by the Islamabad High Court. Justice Rehman was the Chief Justice of the high court, when the court heard Qadri’s appeal.
However, by delaying justice for Bibi, the judiciary continues to bow down to Muslim fundamentalist groups, and fails to provide justice to vulnerable members of society.
Two days prior to the hearing of Asia Bibi’s appeal in the Supreme Court, fundamentalist organisations published advertisements and video clippings, warning the Judiciary not to accept Bibi’s appeal. The Judiciary received the message loud and clear.
Bibi had filed a review petition before the Supreme Court against her death sentence by the Lahore High Court in 2014, and it was kept pending for two years. It finally came up for hearing in the highest court on October 13. Alas, the judges surprised no one in ensuring the whole matter remained in abeyance.
The message from fundamentalists and from proscribed terrorist organisations appears to have suddenly activated the memory of the judge. Their threat appears to have reminded Justice Rehman that he was a part of the Bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer. Justice Rehman informed the court that Asia’s case relates to that of Taseer. The court was later adjourned indefinitely. Asia’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Mulook, said it would probably take weeks or months for a replacement judge to be found and for the appeal to be rescheduled.
If the decision of the lower court is going to be retained and Asia is hanged, she will be the first blasphemy accused to be executed by the State. Most blasphemy accused are lynched by angry vigilante mobs. Proponents of reform in the blasphemy law, including lawyers and judges, have been threatened, attacked, or even killed. Prominent amongst those are ex-Governor Punjab Salman Taseer and ex-Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Shahabaz Bhatti. They were killed for speaking against the blasphemy law and supporting Asia Bibi.
Orthodox religious zealots have also allegedly pressurised the government to deny Asia Bibi her right to medical treatment. Since June 2015, Asia has been suffering from intestinal bleeding. Jail authorities have reportedly denied her access to treatment, because extremist organisations are demanding that Bibi be executed immediately. The Judiciary is reluctant to defend Asia fearing dire repercussions from mullahs, who have been allowed full impunity by the State and are used as non-State actors to subjugate the general masses.
According to the news reports, about 150 top Muslim clerics (muftis) from the radical Islamist group Sunni Tehreek issued a statement which demanded that the government hang Asia Bibi and all other prisoners of blasphemy laws; and demanded a speedy trial of all cases still pending, before Bibi’s hearing earlier this month. They also issued a verbal decree that all those who might rescue those accused of blasphemy or who assist in trying to rescue them should be killed.
Asia’s case is a classic example of a society marked by intellectual bankruptcy, one that manifests a cumulative failure as a nation to protect its vulnerable. The case has already resulted in two high profile murders and one hanging. Yet, it remains in the doldrums and there is no sign of relief for Asia and her family despite a lapse of seven years.
The judges are apprehensive; if they acquit Bibi, their lives, as well as that of their families are in danger. Mob vigilantism is the reality of the country; mobs dispense their idea of instant justice to any one uttering a single word deemed blasphemous. The mob spares no one, be they young or old, as witnessed in Kasur in 2014, when a Christian couple, along with their unborn child, was burnt alive over alleged blasphemy. No one has been convicted to date for the horrendous Kasur murder.
The number of complaints of blasphemy has increased significantly in Pakistan in the last three decades. Human rights activists have been saying that many of these complaints are filed in order to settles their personal scores.
A criminal justice system rife with loopholes allows anyone to wrongly accuse a person of blasphemy and get away with it. The alleged accused is however made to languish behind bars for years, even if they are innocent. Even when the case does proceed, it takes many years before a judgment is pronounced, and in most of the cases it is not favourable for the accused. This is partly because of the pressure exerted by fundamentalist religious groups and partly because the legal jurisprudence on blasphemy has still not been clearly established, ever since the promulgation of the notorious Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
The miscarriage of justice on the issue is a far cry from the reality of its application, as enunciated by several edicts on the issue, where a single unfortunate, ill-informed, ill-judged alleged utterance can lead to a conviction under the law, and to the death penalty.
Unknown to many contemporary pseudo-religious scholars, a fatwa (religious edict) issued by more than 450 reputed religious scholars from different schools of thought has clearly stated that a non-Muslim blasphemer cannot be killed unless he or she is “habitual in the offense”. Hundreds of leading ulema from South Asia have declared that non-Muslims cannot be killed for a single offense of blasphemy and their pardon is acceptable unless it becomes a habitual and high-frequency offense.
The founder of the sect that Mumtaz Qadri, murderer of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, belonged to, also endorsed pardon for non-Muslim blasphemers and the view that non-Muslims cannot be killed for a single offense of blasphemy.
Incidentally, the co-founder of the Deoband school of thought, another orthodox group that favors death penalty for the offence, Mahmood Hassan Deobandi, is also signatory to the said edict.
Going by the edict, Asia should have been acquitted, as she has begged pardon a number of times, and is not a habitual offender. According to Asia’s husband Ashiq Masih.
“Even if Asia is released, there is a bounty on her head so their lives could never return to how they once were. Thousands have protested against her and said they would kill her if she were ever released – including the imam in her own village,” he says.
The verbal brawl that started seven years ago has destroyed the life of Asia and her five children; the family lives under constant threat and is forced into a fugitive life. Asia herself is kept in solitary confinement; to keep her safe from other inmates who might kill her. As per her lawyers, it has been a year since she has seen the open sky.
By adjourning the cases indefinitely, the judges have tried to avert the pressure on them; however, for Asia, it will mean more years of incarceration and solitary confinement. Her misery has been compounded by the inaction of the Judiciary, which is dragging its feet in her case. No judge wants to be embroiled in the mess that can ensue following her acquittal. Even on the occasion of the hearing of the case, the government had to deploy thousands of security troops to avert any violence outside the Supreme Court.
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