Christian woman in Pakistan charged with blasphemy, imprisoned

A Christian woman in Pakistan, Martha Bibi, has been arrested and imprisoned by the police for insulting the Prophet Mohammad, a crime that carries death penalty.

Bibi, 40, has denied the charges, pleading forgiveness and saying that she was unaware that the words she uttered were blasphemous.

According to investigating officer, Mohammad Rafiq Khan, Bibi was arrested in Kot Nanak Singh village, near Changa Manga, on January 22, based on the complaint of a fellow villager.

"We shifted her to Kasur jail the very next day for safety reasons, as people in the area were very furious," Khan said.

"Bibi is still unlawfully detained in the Kasur district prison and her family remains in hiding fearing attacks from the local Muslim community," Shahbaz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) said.

Local Muslims "are putting pressure on the judges. They are saying she cannot be released; otherwise she would be subject to people's justice," he added. "What is more, the situation of the local Christian community is going from bad to worse. Everyday, acts of discrimination and violence are inflicted on the few non Muslim families of Kasur."

One villager, on conditions of anonymity, said that Bibi's husband is a mason with a small building tools rental business that he runs with the help of his wife. They had rented out tools to the company building the Sher Rabbani mosque, but when they approached the builders for money, they were refused.

On the morning of January 22 Bibi went to the construction site to retrieve the equipment that they had rented out instead was attacked by three Muslims – Muhammad Ramzan, Mohammad Akram and Muhammad Dilbar – who began beating her severely. However, she managed to escape with her life when other people intervened.

Later that night the mosque's imam accused Bibi of uttering blasphemous words about the prophet Muhammad and incited Muslims to attack Christians. When Bibi came to learn that villagers were furious with them, she and her husband fled to their neighbour's house to hide.

However, the police soon arrived at the scene and arrested her and charged her under Section 295 C of Pakistan's Penal Code, better known as the blasphemy law, a law that provides for long prison terms as well as the death penalty for anyone who insults the prophet and the sacred texts of Islam.

"No investigations have been conducted prior to registering a FIR (First Information Report) neither from the alleged accused nor from the petitioner," Bhatti said. "This shows it is a concocted and baseless case and exposes the misuse of this law."

"Moreover, the complainant, Muhammad Dilbar was not present at the time of this incident and his deposition should not be taken into account," he added.

Though APMA has filed a complaint highlighting these abuses and has applied for Bibi's release on bail, Bhatti remains fearful as "Bibi, even after her release, will not be able to leave for home where she might be the target of extremists."

Blasphemy cases are fairly common, but death sentences have never been carried out because convictions have always been overturned by high courts for lack of evidence, though there have been incidents where accused have been lynched by mobs.

Rights groups have claimed that people often make accusations of blasphemy against people they hold a grudge against or belong to a different faith.

The government plans to change the law, probably after parliamentary elections due either late this year, or early 2008.

The Pakistan Muslim League, leading the ruling coalition, is presently reluctant to draw itself into the controversy, as it does not want to hand Islamist opposition parties an issue before the elections for it could cost them votes among a conservative electorate.

President Pervez Musharraf, who sees a philosophy of "enlightened moderation" for his country, was forced to drop plans to amend the laws seven years ago due to fierce opposition from the Islamist parties.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has long demanded repeal of the law which, it said, is misused against the minorities.

Christians are the largest minority community and make up less than three percent of Pakistan's 160 million, pre–dominantly Muslim, population.