Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman who spent almost a decade on death row after being accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet Mohammad has been acquitted by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
The court in Islamabad ordered the release of Bibi from an undisclosed jail on Wednesday.
Tahir Khalil Singh, one of Asia Bibi’s lawyers, told Premier: “I am so satisfied. Thanks to Jesus Christ that she is acquitted.
“But… the years she spent in the jail behind the bars in the isolation cell without her children, without his her everything – who will be responsible for these years?”
Bibi was arrested in 2009 following a row with Muslim women who accused her of making a water cup unclean for them because she had used it.
A mother of five from Punjab province, she was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and sentenced to hang after she was accused of defiling the name of the Prophet Muhammed during an argument the year before with Muslim colleagues.
David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA, an organization that lobbies on behalf of Christian minorities, said in a statement that “we are breathing a sigh of relief today.”
“These charges stemmed from her Christian identity as well as false accusations against her,” he said.
“We are hopeful that Pakistan will now take additional steps to offer religious freedom and basic human rights throughout the country.”
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