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Human Rights Day: “Please
Don’t Abandon Me”
GENEVA, Dec. 10 -- Today, as the world marks the 66th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Watch
dedicates Human Rights Day to the cause of freedom and human dignity as
exemplified by one person's suffering: Asia Bibi, the innocent mother of five
who is on death row in Pakistan for the crime of blasphemy.
We have advocated (at
the
UN, with 50
NGOs, at the Geneva
Summit) and shall continue to demand her immediate
release.
Until then, we believe
that Pakistan should be expelled from the UN Human Rights Council: please click here to sign our petition.
___________
 
NOVEMBER 19, 2014 - Asia Bibi, a
Christian Pakistani woman, was sentenced to death for blasphemy against Islam in
2010. The year before, while
picking fruit with Muslim women, she took a sip of water from the local well.
She was immediately accused of making the water impure by the other workers,
who told her that they could no longer use the
well.
According to her husband, Ashiq Masih, and others, men
and women started beating her and accusing her of making derogatory remarks
against the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a charge she
denies.
Asia is currently in prison waiting to be hanged after
losing an appeal on Oct. 16. She has told her story in a memoir, Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death over a Cup of Water,
written with French journalist Anne-Isabelle
Tollet.
Below is an open letter by Ashiq addressed to the world
community. (Madam Mayor refers to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who has offered her
support to Asia.)
___________
By ASHIQ MASIH
Yesterday, I returned from the prison in Multan where my wife,
Asia Bibi, was transferred eight months ago. Since Asia was sentenced to death
in November 2010 for drinking a glass of water from our village well, my family
has lived in constant fear and under death threats.
I live in hiding with my five children as near as possible to
Asia. She needs us very much to help keep her alive, to bring her medicine and
good food when she is sick.
After my wife had spent four long years in prison in terrible
conditions, we were hoping that the High Court of Lahore would free my wife. She
did not commit blasphemy, never.
Since the court confirmed the death sentence on the 16th of
October, we do not understand why our country, our beloved Pakistan, is so
against us. Our family has always lived here in peace, and we never had any
disturbance. We are Christians but we respect Islam. Our neighbors are Muslims
and we have always lived well with them in our little village.
But for some years now the situation in Pakistan has changed
because of just a few people, and we are afraid. Today many of our Muslim
friends cannot understand why the Pakistani justice system is making our family
suffer so much.
We are now trying our best to present the final case to the
Supreme Court before the 4th of December. But we are convinced that Asia will
only be saved from being hanged if the venerable President Mammon Hussain grants
her a pardon. No one should be killed for drinking a glass of water.
My five children and I have only survived thanks to the protection
of a few faithful friends who risk their lives daily to help us. We are the
husband and family of Asia Bibi and many people want us to die. Thanks to our
friend Anne-Isabelle Tollet, who has become our sister and helped us
for four years now, we speak often about what is happening in Paris and the
world to help save Asia.
Hearing that people are supporting Asia from so far away is so
important for us. It helps us to hold on. Every time I visit Asia in prison I
tell her the news. Sometimes it gives her the courage to keep going.
Just before taking the ten-hour journey to visit Asia, I learned
the wonderful news that Paris is offering to welcome Asia and our family to
Paris if she is freed. This is a huge honor and we are very humbled. I would
like to offer my sincere thanks to you, Madam Mayor of Paris, and to say that we
are immensely grateful for your concern. I hope that one day we will visit you
alive, and not dead.
When I visited Asia Bibi yesterday she asked me to give you this
message:
Ashiq Masih
Pakistan, 17th of November 2014 |
Labels: Human Rights, Islamism, Pakistan
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, December 10, 2014
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