Bibi’s lawyer flees in fear of his life
I need to stay alive as I still have to fight the legal battle — Saif-ul-Mulook |
The Pakistani lawyer who saved a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy from the gallows left the country yesterday, saying his life was under threat.
Saif ul-Mulook’s latest victory saw the freeing of Asia Bibi, who spent nearly a decade on death row, after the Supreme Court overturned her sentence on Wednesday. The decision sparked protests across the country, with major roads blocked in Lahore and Islamabad as religious hardliners called for the death of the judges and those who helped acquit Bibi.
“In the current scenario, it’s not possible for me to live in Pakistan,” the 62-year-old lawyer told AFP before boarding a plane to Europe early yesterday morning. “I need to stay alive as I still have to fight the legal battle for Asia Bibi,” he said.
On Friday night, the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party (TLP), which has largely led the demonstrations, announced an end to mass protests after reaching a deal with the government. The protesters ended their action after the government reached a controversial deal to put Bibi on the no-fly list and saying it would not object to an appeal against the verdict, which was filed earlier in the Supreme Court.
“We have requested the Supreme Court to put Asia Bibi on the Exit Control List as soon as possible so that she could not fly out of the country,” Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, lawyer of Qari Salam who filed the case against Bibi, told AFP.
“We fear that she would be flown out of the country so we have requested the court for an early hearing of the case,” he said, adding that he would “exploit all legal remedies to make sure Asia Bibi is hanged according to the law”.
A five-point agreement, signed by both parties, said the government would not object to an appeal of the verdict, filed earlier in the Supreme Court. According to the agreement, legal proceedings will follow to impose a travel ban on Bibi. The deal was criticised by local media and the country’s Dawn newspaper called it “another surrender” yesterday. “Yet another government has capitulated to violent religious extremists who neither believe in democracy nor the constitution,” it read.