Free at Last: Asia Bibi

In Pakistan, a Christian woman who was acquitted last year after almost a decade on death row for blasphemy is finally free.

Asia Bibi’s daughter cries during a 2015 press conference about her mother’s case. Bibi’s incarceration and death sentence caused an international outcry. (photo: HazteOir.org)

The long, sad story of Asia Bibi, a simple farm hand sentenced to death almost a decade ago for blasphemy, began as a minor workplace dispute over the sharing of community drinking utensils.

It ended two weeks ago as the 50-something mother of five boarded a plane in Pakistan together with her husband, bound ultimately for asylum in Canada to join her daughters already in residence.

Bibi had been technically free since January 2019, but has been held in protective custody with Pakistani officials giving the international community few clues as to when Bibi would be ultimately released.

Canada agreed to grant Asia Bibi and her family political asylum following Bibi’s October 2018 acquittal on a charge of blasphemy that carried the death penalty. Staying in Pakistan was not an option: Although she was acquitted, Asia Bibi is not safe in Pakistan as Islamist militants, including the powerful and influential Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) have threatened to carry out the death sentence anyway.

Though Pakistan has never actually executed anyone for blasphemy to date, mob violence against anyone accused of blasphemy is not uncommon and is rarely prosecuted.