LAHORE: A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court has suspended till further orders the carrying out of death penalty awarded to Aasia Bibi in a blasphemy case that had drawn a lot of criticism at the national and international levels.

The bench also condoned on Wednesday an 11-day delay in filing appeal against an order of a Lahore High Court division bench that had upheld the Christian woman’s sentence.

Advocate Saiful Malook informed the Supreme Court bench that delayed issuance of attested copies of the orders of the trial and high courts had caused a delay of a few days in filing the appeal. He said the court had the power to condone a minor delay in filing appeals against death penalties.

Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, head of the bench, condoned the delay and overruled the registrar office’s objection to the appeal.

Admitting the appeal for hearing, the bench halted the execution of the woman and asked the prosecution to present complete record of witnesses in the case.

It linked the execution to final decision on the appeal and adjourned hearing for a date to be fixed by the registrar’s office.

Justice Nisar said a careful examination of the case record was critical for complete justice.

Talking to reporters, the counsel for the convict termed the stay order a breakthrough in the case and expressed the hope that his client would be acquitted.

He said grave lacunas in the trial and prosecution’s version would favour the convict.

Asia Bibi, a 50-year-old mother of five, has been languishing in jail since June 19, 2009, when her neighbours in a village near Nankana Sahib accused her of blasphemy. An additional district and sessions judge sentenced her to death in November 2010. An LHC division bench dismissed her appeal on Oct 16 last year and upheld the sentence.

The then Punjab governor Salman Taseer visited Aasia Bibi in jail, criticised her conviction and the blasphemy law. A couple of months later he was gunned down by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri. An anti-terrorism court tried the killer and sentenced him to death.

Former minister for minorities’ affairs Shahbaz Bhatti was killed in 2011 after he also criticised the conviction of Aasia Bibi and called for reforms in the blasphemy law.

According to AFP, the woman was accused of making blasphemous remarks during a row over drinking water with women she was working with in a field. She denies the charge levelled against her.

Chaudhry Ghulam Mustapha, the lawyer for the complainant -- a local prayer leader -- opposed the petition on the grounds that it had been filed too late.

Justice Nisar said the court would hear this argument during future proceedings.

At an earlier hearing, Advocate Malook said he would ask the court to look at flaws in the case, including what he termed manipulated evidence.

The lawyer said the allegation of blasphemy had been concocted by the woman’s enemies and had no basis.

The allegations date back to 2009, when Aasia Bibi was labouring in a field and a dispute broke out with some Muslim women with whom she was working.

She was asked to fetch water but the Muslim women objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the water bowl.

A few days later the women went to the local cleric and levelled the blasphemy allegation.

Her husband has also written to President Mamnoon Hussain, appealing for her to be pardoned and allowed to move to France.

Critics, including European governments, allege the blasphemy laws are often misused to settle personal scores.

Last year, a bonded labourer, Shehzad Masih, and his pregnant wife Shama Bibi were thrashed and then thrown into a lit furnace by a mob of about 1,500 people in a violent reaction to rumours that they had thrown pages of the holy Quran into garbage.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2015

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