Tag: Shahbaz Bhatti

EU Envoy’s threat of trade sanctions played crucial role in Asia Bibi’s freedom

September 5, 2019 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Canada, Europe, Human rights, Jan Figel, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti

EU Envoy on religious freedom, Jan Figel, meets with Asia Bibi's lawyer, Saif ul Malook in Lahore, December 2017. (Photo: Jan Figel)

Freed Pakistani Christian Aasiya Noreen, known to the world now as Asia Bibi, has pleaded for the many others like her accused of blasphemy who, she says, are still “lying in jail for years – their decisions should also be done on merit. The world should listen to them. “The . . . Read More

Pakistani mother Asia Bibi wins appeal against death sentence for blasphemy

October 31, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Imran Khan, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Minorities, Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistan, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Asia Bibi is finally free, almost one decade after she was first imprisoned. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman on death row for blasphemy since 2010, has won her final appeal. She is expected to be freed from prison soon, but there are still fears for her personal safety, as many in the country still believe that she should die. Her case has divided . . . Read More

Pakistan’s Supreme Court hears Asia Bibi’s ‘blasphemy’ appeal but delays ruling

October 8, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamabad, Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistan, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Aasiya Noreen, a Pakistani Christian woman, has been on death row for over eight years for alleged blasphemy. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has finally heard the much-delayed appeal of Asia Bibi, the first Christian woman sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy law, today, 8 October, in the capital, Islamabad. It has not announced its decision, saying it will “reserve judgment” for several days or possibly weeks. Aasiya Noreen, commonly . . . Read More

Family of murdered Pakistani Christian MP open training centre for women

September 13, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Education, Pakistan, Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Women

The memorial to Shahbaz Bhatti, which marks the location of his assassination. Islamabad, Pakistan.

The family of the murdered Catholic MP Shahbaz Bhatti is opening an education centre for Christian women and girls in Khushpur, eastern Pakistan, reports AsiaNews Khushpur, near Faisalabad in Punjab province, is the largest Christian settlement in Pakistan and the area where the former minister for minorities came from and . . . Read More

Christians matter least in Pakistani politics

July 5, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Balochistan, Blasphemy, Constitution, Elections, Imran Khan, Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore, Minorities, Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Peoples Party, Patras Masih, PTI, Punjab, Sajid Masih, Shahbaz Bhatti, Sindh, Taliban, Youhanabad

As Pakistan prepares for elections later this month, the country’s minorities – particularly its Christians – have expressed dismay at their lack of representation among the candidates. Among the thousands of candidates contesting hundreds of provincial and national constituencies across the country, not a single Christian is nominated by any . . . Read More

Gunman shoots Pakistan minister over blasphemy law

May 9, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Catholics, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Minorities, Mumtaz Qadri, Narowal, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Pakistan’s interior minister, who has championed the country’s minority communities, has survived an assassination attempt by a gunman protesting against the country’s blasphemy laws. Ahsan Iqbal was shot in the arm before police overpowered his suspected attacker, 21-year-old Abid Hussain, the BBC reported. Iqbal was shot on Sunday (6 May) . . . Read More

Six years on, justice thwarted in case of Pakistan’s murdered Shahbaz Bhatti

March 3, 2017 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Pakistan Peoples Party, Paul Bhatti, Rawalpindi, Shahbaz Bhatti, Taliban

Six years on, justice for the murdered Pakistani Christian federal cabinet member Shahbaz Bhatti remains elusive, as does the social equality for which he gave his life. The Christian community says the Pakistani political leadership is not doing enough to ask the police and the judiciary to ensure his killers . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian who sought police help instead faces death for ‘blasphemy’

July 1, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gujranwala, Islamic extremism, Police, Shahbaz Bhatti

The Science Locus School of Science & Arts in Gujranwala, Pakistan.www.sciencelocusschool.edu.pk An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to death for committing blasphemy against the prophet of Islam. Anjum Sandhu, 60, had initially sought police protection in May 2015, after alleging he was the victim of . . . Read More

Pakistan hangs killer of Governor who challenged blasphemy law

February 29, 2016 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Salmaan Taseer, Shaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti

Mumtaz Qadri after his arrest following the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer in 2011. (Photo: courtesy of Dawn)

Pakistan has executed the murderer of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who had justified the 2011 assassination upon Taseer’s desire for reforms in the blasphemy law, and for his support of Asia Noreen, a Christian woman condemned to death for blasphemy. Mumtaz Qadri was hanged early today (Monday, 29 Feb.), after . . . Read More

Asia Bibi’s last chance for freedom

July 22, 2015 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Multan, Prophet Muhammad, Sawan Masih, Shahbaz Bhatti, Sheikhupura

Pakistani Christian Aasiya Noreen (known as Asia Bibi) has been allowed to take her appeal against her death penalty for blasphemy to Pakistan’s Supreme Court in the capital, Islamabad. Until the Supreme Court reaches its final decision, Noreen cannot be executed. Commentators today have praised the Supreme Court for its courage to . . . Read More

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