The lawyers representing Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death last year for blasphemy, have requested that the appeal hearing be held in prison due to concerns for her safety.
Asia Bibi needs a private motorcade if she is to be moved from her current prison to another, or if she is to be taken from prison to the Supreme Court hearing in Lahore. This is according to Haroon Barket Masih, director of the Masihi Foundation, the organization working to provide legal aid to the woman sentenced to death for blasphemy and to help her family materially.
According to a report by the Pakistani security police, due to the threats she has received, Asia Bibi should be transferred to a new women's prison, probably in Multan, to guarantee her personal safety. "Nevertheless, such a move would seriously jeopardize her safety," Haroon Masih tells Fides. "The terrorists could strike at any moment, or they could infiltrate the security force that will guard her, as happened to Governor Taseer" (the governor of the province of Punjab, who was murdered by his own security guard for advocating a revision of the blasphemy law under which Asia Bibi was accused and convicted, Red.). Therefore, the Masihi Foundation intends to organize a private motorcade that will provide increased guarantees for women's safety. "Today, in light of recent events, we don't trust much the security service offered by the state, which is composed of Muslim men," he noted.
Asia will face additional risk if she appears in court. Her defense lawyers are finalizing the report they will submit to the court and, as they have told Fides, the date for the first hearing is imminent and could be set by the end of January. However, it would be a bad idea to allow Asia to be present in the Lahore courtroom "because it would expose her to being shot by radicals, as happened to brothers Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel, accused of blasphemy and murdered during the trial outside the Faisalabad courtroom in July 2010."
The lawyers request, in light of the situation and the real danger of a summary execution (as has already happened to 34 people accused of blasphemy), that a special hearing be held inside the prison walls.
Haroon Barket Masih concludes: "We must do everything we can to protect Asia's life. Even her family, now living in hiding, is deeply confused by the turn her story has taken and the violence that was unleashed in society. We hope in light of the mobilization that has happened nationally and internationally, Asia will soon regain her freedom as she is innocent."
Source: Fides
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