A sessions court in Pakistan’s most populous region has sentenced a 40-year-old woman to life in prison after finding her guilty of burning pages of the Quran. Asia Bibi, a resident of the Bedian Road area of Lahore, was arrested in 2021 on a complaint by a man of her locality who accused her of burning a copy of Islam’s holy book outside her house.
She was subsequently booked under the stringent blasphemy laws of the country, the Dawn newspaper reported. Her counsel, advocate Sarmad Ali, pointed out fundamental flaws in the case against Asia saying she did not commit any blasphemy and she was implicated wrongfully by her neighbour to settle a personal score.
Notably, there have been glaring contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses, he said, and questioned as to why the principal complainant was replaced by a police officer who was not a witness to the incident. Prosecutor Mohazib Awais, however, said Asia was caught red-handed while burning a copy of the Quran which was also recovered from the spot.
Sessions court judge Imran Sheikh announced the verdict observing that ”the prosecution has established its case beyond any shadow of a doubt”. Sarmad Ali said Asia Bibi will challenge the verdict in the Lahore High Court and expressed hope to get relief from the higher judiciary.
This incident comes a few days after two Pakistani women were sentenced to death for murdering their madrassa teacher who they accused of committing blasphemy. Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of insulting Islam have provoked deadly vigilantism
(With agency inputs)
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