Boris in call for UK to aid the Christian mum in fear of lynch mob
Boris Johnson last night demanded that a Pakistani Christian mother freed from death row be given refuge in Britain.
in an extraordinary intervention, the former foreign secretary said Asia Bibi, 53, was at serious risk if she stayed in her home country.
she was cleared last month after eight years in jail on blasphemy charges but now faces being lynched by extremists.
Mr Johnson said ‘brave’ Mrs Bibi had suffered appalling treatment because of her faith. He has told sajid Javid that the danger of retaliatory attacks against British interests should not stop her being granted asylum.
in a letter to the Home secretary, he said: ‘i am well aware, as a former foreign secretary, of the constant threat to our overseas missions, but we cannot allow the threat of violence to deter us from doing the right thing.
‘i do not think it is a dignified position for the UK, given our historic links with Pakistan and the extent of our influence there, to look to others to do what we are allegedly nervous to do ourselves.’
in the letter, seen by the Mail and also sent to Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, Mr Johnson said Mrs Bibi had an overwhelming claim for compassion from the British Government.
While at the Foreign office he was heavily criticised for his handling of the case of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe, who was jailed in iran on spying charges. He was accused of risking an additional five years being added to her sentence when he told MPs that she had been in iran to train journalists.
Mr Johnson had to apologise, retracting ‘any suggestion she was there in a professional capacity’.
His intervention on behalf of Mrs Bibi comes only 24 hours after he urged Cabinet ministers to mutiny against the Prime Minister over her proposed Brexit deal.
Mr Javid, the son of Pakistani immigrants, is one of Mr Johnson’s main rivals for the Tory crown if Mrs May quits. some will see Mr Johnson’s move as an
‘Well aware of the constant threat’
attempt to claim the credit if Britain offers Mrs Bibi a safe haven.
Government sources say Mr Javid is keen to help but the decision is being held up by Foreign office red tape.
Mother-of-five Mrs Bibi, a roman Catholic from Punjab province, was jailed in 2010 after being accused of defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed.
she was harvesting fruit with Muslim women when a row broke out over water. The women said because she had used a cup they could no longer touch it, because her faith had made it unclean.
Prosecutors said that in the ensuing row the women said Mrs Bibi should convert to islam. it was claimed she replied with offensive comments about the Prophet.
At her home she was given a beating, during which her accusers say she confessed to blasphemy. Police arrested her and she was sentenced to death.
The conviction was quashed last month after eight years in solitary confinement. she has always denied the allegations.
Mrs Bibi is in hiding after imran Khan’s government agreed to allow a petition against the court’s decision, as part of a deal to halt the protests. officials agreed to stop her leaving Pakistan and her husband has appealed to Canada, the UK and the Us to consider granting asylum.
The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed his government was in talks with Pakistan.
Home office sources have dismissed claims that Mrs Bibi had not been offered asylum owing to security fears.
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