Christian mother of 5 sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan

[Peter]

Asia Bibi, 45, was arrested last year after being accused of defaming the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

The mother-of-five denied the charges but was sentenced to death by a court on Monday, provoking outrage among Christian groups and human rights advocates. They say Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws are being used to discriminate against religious minorities and should be repealed.

Her supporters say Mrs Bibi will now appeal against the sentence handed down by a local court in the town of Sheikhupura, near Lahore.

Ashiq Masih, her husband, said the family was in a state of shock and believed the judge had been pressured into finding his wife guilty.

"It is an unjust decision," he said. "I can't believe it."

He added that he had not yet had the heart to break the news to his youngest children.

"I haven't told two of my younger daughters about the court's decision," he said.

"They asked me many times about their mother but I can't get the courage to tell them that the judge has sentenced their mother to capital punishment for a crime that she never committed."

The court heard she had been working as a farmhand in fields with other women, when she was asked to fetch drinking water.

Some of the other women - all Muslims - refused to drink the water, sparking a row. They said, as it had been brought by a Christian, it was "unclean", Mrs Bibi said in evidence.

The incident was forgotten until a few days later when Mrs Bibi said she was set upon by a baying mob. The police were called and took her to a police station for her own safety.

Shahzad Kamran, of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan, said: "The police were under pressure from this Muslim mob, including clerics, asking for Asia to be killed because she had spoken ill of the Prophet Muhammad.

"So after the police saved her life they then registered a blasphemy case against her."

He added that she had been held in isolation for more than a year before being sentenced to death on Monday.

"The trial was clear," he said.

"She was innocent and did not say those words."

More here
http://news.scotsman.com/news/Sentenced-to-hang-Pakistan-Christian.6619709.jp

[Peter]

persecution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPF5bYS2nbg

If you live in Europe coming to a town near you soon?
http://www.rationalistinternational.net/Shaikh/blasphemy_laws_in_pakistan.htm
The antichrist Mohammedan cleric said "Tears of joy poured from my eyes." upon learning that the Christian woman had been sentenced to death.

295-C 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 Mohammed (PBUH) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

Perhaps these are the U.N. laws that Muslims are angling for, the "innuendo" of which will be judged, of course, by Muslims. As we have seen in this forum "insulting the prophet" is committed when simply pointing out how Mohammed is revealed through the Muslims own books.

Yahoo U N speech laws

[Peter]

Guess who introduced it to the U.N.?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432502,00.html

Religious groups and free-speech advocates are banding together to fight a United Nations resolution they say is being used to spread Sharia law to the Western world and to intimidate anyone who criticizes Islam.

The non-binding resolution on “Combating the Defamation of Religion” is intended to curtail speech that offends religion -- particularly Islam.

Pakistan and the Organization of the Islamic Conference introduced the measure to the U.N. Human Rights Council in 1999. It was amended to include religions other than Islam, and it has passed every year since.

In 2005, Yemen successfully brought a similar resolution before the General Assembly. Now the 192-nation Assembly is set to vote on it again.

The non-binding Resolution 62/145, which was adopted in 2007, says it “notes with deep concern the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities in the aftermath of 11 September 2001.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432502,00.html#ixzz1Vg1LvYW9
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Chilling effect on Christian outreach
http://www.christianpost.com/news/freedom-experts-criticize-u-n-anti-blasphemy-resolution-34734/

-- On Oct. 3 in Great Britain, three men were charged for plotting to kill the publisher of the novel "The Jewel of Medina," which gives a fictional account of the Prophet Muhammad and his child bride. FOXNews.com reported U.S. publisher Random House Inc., was going to release the book but stopped it from hitting shelves after it claimed that “credible and unrelated sources” said the book could incite violence by a “small, radical segment.”

-- An Afghan student is on death row for downloading an article about the role of women in Islam, FOXNews.com also reported.

-- In December 2007 “a court reportedly sentenced two foreigners to six months in prison for allegedly marketing a book deemed offensive to Aisha, one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives,” the U.S. government said.

-- A British teacher was sentenced to 15 days in jail in Sudan for offending Islam by allowing students to name the class teddy bear Muhammad in November 2007.

-- In February 2007 in Egypt an Internet blogger was sentenced to four years in prison for writing a post that critiqued Islam.

-- In 2004, Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered after the release of his documentary highlighting the abuse of Muslim women.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432502,00.html#ixzz1Vg34hzfr