Asia Bibi gives first newspaper interview, says she is only one among many victims of blasphemy law
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Asia Bibi, the Christian mother held on death row for 8 years in Pakistan under blasphemy charges, recently gave her first-ever newspaper interview with the Sunday Telegraph.
Now having taken up her residence in an undisclosed location in Canada, who offered Bibi asylum four months ago following her acquittal by Pakistan’s supreme court, Bibi highlighted to the Telegraph the unexceptional nature of her case.
“There are many other cases where the accused are lying in jail for years and their decision should also be done on merit,” Bibi said in the interview. “I request the whole world to pay attention to this issue. The way any person is alleged of blasphemy without any proper investigation without any proper proof, that should be noticed.”
Bibi was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad in 2010 following a dispute with Muslim coworkers who refused to drink from the same water container as her, but she said her confession to blasphemy was forced by a village lynch mob that nearly beat her unconscious after the incident.
1,472 people were charged with blasphemy in Pakistan between 1987 and 2016, according to the Center for Social Justice, of which Christians comprised 16% of the cases—an overrepresentation of Pakistan’s 2% Christian population.