The accused in blasphemy case has been granted a fresh chance to escape the gallows after the Supreme Court confirmed Friday it will hear Asia Bibi’s appeal against her execution next week.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan under the chair of Justice Saqib Nisar will hear Asia Bibi’s appeal against her death sentence on Thursday, October 13 in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Islamabad,” her lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook told foreign news agency.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue. Anyone even accused of insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes, so as Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, has been on death row since 2010.
Bibi was convicted and sentenced to hang after an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water. Her supporters maintain her innocence and insist it was a personal dispute.