VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Wednesday met the husband and daughter of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death over blasphemy charges, the Vatican said.

“I pray for Asia, for you and for all Christians who are suffering,” the pope told Bibi’s husband Ashiq Masiq and their 15-year-old daughter, according to the Vatican Insider website. A mother of five, Asia Bibi has been on death row since a row broke out in 2009 with a group of women she was working with in a field. They accused her of insulting the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), a charge she denies.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2015

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