Christian woman to be freed after being sentenced in 2010, accused of insulting the prophet Muhammad
Pakistan’s supreme court has struck down the death sentence for blasphemy handed down to Christian woman Asia Bibi, in a long-delayed, landmark decision that has seen the judiciary praised for its bravery in the face of threats of violence and protest from the country’s Islamist groups.
The court, in a three-member bench led by chief justice Saqib Nisar, released the verdict on Wednesday morning in Islamabad, three weeks after they had reached a decision. The delay followed threats by blasphemy campaigners to hold large protests and kill the judges if they did not uphold the death sentence.
“Her conviction is set aside and she is to be relieved forthwith if not required in other charges,” said Nisar, reading out the judgment.
“It is ironical that in the Arabic language the appellant’s name Asia means ‘sinful’,” reads the judgment written by Justice Asif Khosa, “but in the circumstances of the present case she appears to be a person, in the words of Shakespeare’s King Lear, “more sinned against than sinning.”
The Christian farm labourer, a 47-year-old mother of three, was sentenced to hang for blasphemy in 2010. She had angered fellow Muslim farm workers by taking a sip of water from a cup she had fetched for them on a hot day. When they demanded she convert to Islam, she refused, prompting a mob to later allege that she had insulted the prophet Mohammed.
Bibi remains in Adiala jail, in Rawalpindi, but will be freed as soon as jail officials receive the court order.
On Wednesday, the judges noted that no solid evidence of wrongdoing by Bibi was presented before the court. The three witnesses who did appear, according to observers, presented contradictory stories from the stand.
The media has been prevented from discussing the case since the verdict was reserved on 8 October.
Paramilitary security forces have deployed across the capital in the past 24 hours, protecting the Judges Enclave and the diplomatic zone. About 300 police have been stationed to guard the supreme court.
On 13 October, Khadim Rizvi, the leader of a new political party dedicated to punishing blasphemy, Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP), announced he would “paralyse the country within hours” if Bibi was freed.
Protests, small for now, have already started across the country. TLP workers have already started a protest outside the Punjab assembly in Lahore, while others have gathered to block roads in Karachi. More have returned to the Faizabad interchange in Islamabad, the site of a three-week long protest camp held by the party last year that crippled the capital.
The accusation against Bibi carries an automatic death penalty in Pakistan’s legal system, and although the state has never executed anyone for the offence, vigilante mobs often take matters into their own hands.
Bibi, who is the first non-Muslim to be sentenced to death for blasphemy, has remained in solitary confinement for the past eight years. The supreme court was due to hear Bibi’s appeal in 2016, but delayed the trial after one of the judges recused himself.
A journalist who visited her in prison before the verdict said she appeared to have memory loss and confusion.
However, on 7 October, Ashiq Masih, Bibi’s husband, said his wife was “spiritually strong” and “ready and willing to die for Christ”, adding that she will “never convert to Islam”.
In February, Pope Francis met Ashiq at the Vatican, and Christian churches in Lahore held fasts and prayer sessions before the verdict.
The case highlights two issues with blasphemy laws in Pakistan: how allegations can be used to settle personal scores, and lower-court judges feeling unable to acquit defendants for fear of their lives.
The governor of Punjab province, Salmaan Taseer, was murdered in 2011 after he spoke in defence of Bibi and called for reform of blasphemy laws.
Before the verdict, Bibi’s lawyer told AP: “I have lost my health. I am a high blood pressure patient, my privacy is totally lost. You have to be in hiding.”
Lawyers, who did not want to speak on the record, noted that although the supreme court had at last taken a stand, the after-effect of the trial would serve to encourage lower courts to pass the weakest cases of blasphemy up to the apex court.
Esteemed former senator Farhatullah Babar greeted the verdict, saying the “honourable judges have lit a candle in darkness and raised hopes in hopelessness”.
Shahbaz Taseer, son of the murdered governor Salmaan Taseer, told the Guardian: “This is a huge victory for my father, for Pakistan, for the poor, for the judicial system, for every marginalised person in this country.
“I have seen so much in my very short life I have never seen anything like this. I was released [from five years in Taliban captivity], the same day that Mumtaz Qadri [the killer of his father] was hung. But this is even better than that, this is justice at last.”
On Wednesday, the Pakistani Supreme Court acquitted Asia Bibi from  charges. Asia Bibi is a Christian who was sentenced to death by hanging in November 2010 and remained in confinement on death row for the past eight years awaiting a final decision, reportedly much of it in solitary confinement.

Headed by the Chief Justice , the bench composed of three judges ruled the prosecution "categorically failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt" and Bibi was freed from the charges. In the 56-page-long decision, the Supreme Court said, "This appeal is allowed. The judgements of the High Court, as well as the Trial Court, are reversed. Consequently, the conviction as also the sentence of death awarded to the appellant is set aside and she is acquitted of the charge".

In 2009, two Muslim women accused Bibi of defaming Islamic prophet . Bibi was arrested under 295-C of the  after local cleric Qari Mohammad Salaam registered a formal complaint against Bibi. Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death or by life imprisonment. Bibi's case was appealed in the Supreme Court after Lahori  upheld her conviction in 2014.

Following the verdict, a  (TLP) leader, Afzal Qadri, said "The judges who have ordered the release of the accursed Asia Bibi are all liable to be killed under religious edict". Demonstrations broke out in various cities across the country after the verdict. Another leader of TLP, Khadim Rizvi, said he would "paralyse the country within hours" if Bibi was acquitted and set free.

A main high-way in Pakistan's capital Islamabad and several roads in Karachi and Punjab province's capital Lahore were obstructed by supporters of TLP and other religious groups sparking disordered traffic jams. Per the local reports, governments of three provinces — , Punjab, and Sindh— had imposed section 144 which prevented gathering of more than four people in public. Section 144 was imposed till November 10.

The verdict of Bibi's case was welcomed by Amnesty International. South Asia director deputy Omar Waraich said, "Justice has finally prevailed. The message must go out that the blasphemy laws will no longer be used to persecute the country's most vulnerable minorities". Christians account for about one and a half percent of the population of Pakistan. In 2010, then Catholic Pope Benedict XVI called for Bibi's release.

Regarding the blockades in various cities and the threats against the judges, Pakistani Prime Minister  addressed the public via TV broadcast and said, "Which government can function when people say that kill the judges, rebel against the army chief? ... If the Supreme Court does not issue a verdict according to their wishes, does that mean they will come out on the roads and paralyse the country?"

Prime Minister Imran Khan also said, "They are inciting you for their own political gain, you should not get trapped by them for the sake of the country, they are doing no service to Islam ... We will protect people's properties and lives, we will not allow any sabotage, we will not allow any traffic to be stopped". He supported the Supreme Court decision and said it was "according to the constitution of Pakistan and Pakistan's constitution is according to the teachings of Islam".

After the verdict was announced, Bibi told ''Agence France-Presse'', "I can't believe what I am hearing, will I go out now? Will they let me out, really?"