Pakistani court: No pardon for Christian woman sentenced to death

The Lahore High Court has ruled that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari cannot pardon Asia Bibi, the 45-year-old Christian mother of five whose death sentence on blasphemy charges has provoked an international outcry. The president is disputing the ruling of the court, which determined that the president cannot issue a pardon while a case is under appeal.

Bibi, a resident of Ittanwali in the eastern province of Punjab, was working at a local farm when the Muslim women with whom she was working called her an infidel and urged her to convert to Islam. Bibi refused, saying that Christianity was the only true religion.

“The Muslim men working in nearby fields also gathered and attacked Asia Bibi on which she fled to village in her home,” the Pakistan Christian Postreported. “The angry Muslims followed her and took her out of home and started beating her. They tortured her children also, but meanwhile someone informed police.”

Bibi also says that her accusers raped her.

Police then arrested Bibi on blasphemy charges. Following a lengthy trial, she was sentenced to death.

Bibi is fearful she will be killed in prison; her family has gone into hiding.