Who is Asia Bibi?
The woman and the case that caused an international outcry.
A Simple Life in a Complicated Region
Asia Bibi was born Aasiya Noreen in 1971 in Ittan Wali, a tiny, rural village 30-miles from the capital city of Lahore. A progressive, cultural center, Lahore lies in Pakistan’s Punjab province and is home to more than 11 million people.
Understanding Lahore
Lahore is a very old city, and a very young city. Old, because its roots reach far back into antiquity, and many mighty empires have left a mark on its rich heritage. New, for many reasons critical to understanding the place where Asia Bibi was born into a Christian minority; the place in which she would someday be sentenced to die as a blasphemer of the prophet Mohammed.
- In 1947, a third of Lahore’s population was made up of Hindus and Sikhs living in tightly-knit enclaves throughout the city. When Pakistan was separated from India later that same year, the city’s Hindu and Sikh population left and were replaced by Muslim refugees from India.
- The most recent census numbers put Lahore’s Muslim population at 94%, Christians 5.8%, and small numbers of Bahai’is, Hindus, Ahmediya, Parsis, Skikhs and Jewish people.
- 40% of Lahore’s population is under the age of 15
Asia Bibi Before and After: June 2009
Before she was put on trial and sentenced to hang under Pakistan’s very controversial blasphemy law, the life of Asia Bibi was unremarkable.
Bibi and her family were the only Christians in the villiage where she was born and raised and they undoubably felt pressure to convert to Islam. In general, religious minorities were and are relegated to menial labor and lower-paying jobs; Asia Bibi was a farm worker and she worked to help support her family. Her husbad worked as a bricklayer and together they cared for their five children.
June 2009: Accounts Differ
A book could be written about what happened that day in June 2009; books have been. Here is a helpful timeline and a few uncontested facts:
- Asia Bibi was harvesting berries with a group of other women when she was sent for water
- An argument ensued between Bibi and the other women over the water and the sharing of drinking utensils
- One of the women accused Bibi of speaking against the prophet Mohammed, a charge which Bibi has always denied
- Several days later, a group of people led by one of the women accosted Bibi, dragged her away and brought her before the local imam
- Bibi was subsequently arrested by the Pakistani police and imprisioned for over a year before being charged
In November 2010, Muhammed Naveed Iqbal, a local judge found her guilty and passed a death sentence.
Alone in a Courtroom, Alone in a cell
“I cried alone, putting my head in my hands. I can no longer bear the sight of people full of hatred, applauding the killing of a poor farm worker. I no longer see them, but I still hear them, the crowd who gave the judge a standing ovation, saying: ‘Kill her, kill her! Allahu Akbar!’ The court house is invaded by a euphoric horde who break down the doors, chanting: “Vengeance for the holy prophet. Allah is great!” I was then thrown like an old rubbish sack into the van… I had lost all humanity in their eyes.” -Asia Bibi, describing her conviction
After enduring her trial for blasphemy alone, her husband and their children dared not attend due to threats on their lives, Asia Bibi would go on to spend the next almost 10 years alone. Kept away from the other prisoners for her own safety, and even allowed to prepare her own food for fear of poisoning, she did manage to avoid the deadly fate of others imprisoned for blasphemy.
At first Salman Taseer, then governor of the Punjab, visited her with his wife and daughter; but he was assassinated in January of 2011 for supporting Bibi and opposing blasphemy laws. She would see her lawyer from time to time, as she appealed her conviction. Very occasionally, her husband would be allowed to come out of hiding, risking his own life, to visit her but it would be many long years before her long solitary imprisonment would be over.
The Supreme Court’s Findings
In October of 2018, in a courageous decision amid fierce backlash from extremist Islamist elements in Pakistan, Asia Bibi was acquitted.
“Even if there was some grain of truth in the allegations levelled in this case against the appellant still the glaring contradictions in the evidence of the prosecution highlighted above clearly show that the truth in this case had been mixed with a lot which was untrue. Even in this regard the Muslim witnesses belonging to the complainant party had ignored what had been ordained by the Almighty Allah in the following verse of the Holy Qur’an:
‘And do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it].’ (Surah-Al-Baqarah: verse 42)
“Blasphemy is a serious offense but the insult of the appellant’s religion and religious sensibilities by the complainant party and then mixing truth with falsehood in the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was also not short of being blasphemous. It is ironical that in the Arabic language the appellant’s name Asia means ‘sinful’ but in the circumstances of the present case she appears to be a person, in the words of Shakespeare’s King Leare, ‘more sinned against than sinning.’”
“26. For what has been discussed above a conclusion is inescapable and irresistible that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the appellant beyond a reasonable doubt. This appeal is, therefore, allowed, the conviction and sentence of the appellant recorded and upheld by the courts below are set aside and she is acquitted of the charge by extending the benefit of doubt to her. She shall be released from the jail forthwith if not required to be detained in connection with any other crime.”
From the ruling made by Pakistan’s Supreme Court; Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, assisted by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan. October 31, 2018.
Setting the Scene
How a minor dispute between farm workers over water utensils resulted in an death sentence and an international outcry.
To truly understand what happened to Asia Bibi, and indeed what could happen to anyone who might run afoul of Pakistan’s religious blasphemy laws, two other key factors must be explored a little more closely:
1: Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws
What are religious blasphemy laws? What does it mean to commit religious blasphemy and why does it carry a death sentence in Pakistan?
The laws have been misused and much maligned in the international community, but hard-line Islamists aren’t backing down. What does that mean for the people of Pakistan?
In Part III. of this series, we’ll explore the objections to the controversial laws and what Asia Bibi’s aquittal might mean for the future of religious blasphemy laws in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world.
2: An Atmosphere of Violence
The Asia Bibi case has not unfolded in a vacuum. The high-profile assassinations and attempted assassinations of prominent government officials who dare oppose fundamentalist Islamic elements in Pakistan; the regular disappearance of activists, journalists, peace workers and other outspoken critics of blasphemy law; the campaign of terror and intimidation waged by the Muslim extremist movement, Tehrik-e-Labaik.
In Part III., let’s take a closer look.
(Brooke Bell, contributing writer)