Blasphemy lawyer made to leave Pakistan against his wishes
THE HAGUE: The Pakistani lawyer who saved a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy from death row said Monday that the United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) made him leave the country ‘against my wishes' because he was a ‘prime target'.
Saif-ul-Malook, who has fled to the Netherlands, said he contacted a UN official in Islamabad after Islamist violence erupted following the Pakistani Supreme Court's acquittal of Asia Bibi on Wednesday.
“And then they (the UN) and the European nation ambassadors in Islamabad, they kept me for three days and then put me on a plane against my wishes,” the lawyer told a press conference in The Hague.
“I pressed them that I would not leave the country unless I get Asia out of the prison... I am not happy to be here without her, but everybody said that you are the prime target at the moment and the whole world is taking care of Asia Bibi. “They were of the view that I was the prime target to be killed, and that my life was in imminent danger. “For three days they did not let me open the door, one day I called the French ambassador and said I do not want to be here.”
The lawyer had previously told AFP before his departure on Saturday that he was leaving because “in the current scenario, it's not possible for me to live in Pakistan”.
Malook arrived in The Hague at the weekend after a short stopover in Rome, with the help of the HVC Foundation, a Dutch group that focuses on the human rights of Christian minorities.
Asia Bibi spent nearly a decade on death row after being accused of blasphemy following a dispute with fellow villagers over drinking from the same bowl of water.
The charge is an inflammatory one in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
But she remains in Pakistan after Prime Minister Imran Khan struck a deal with the Islamist hardliners behind the protests to bar her from leaving until a final court appeal is heard.