‘Bibi needs German passport to leave’

Lawyer appeals at press meet in Frankfurt to grant citizenship to Christian woman

The lawyer for Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian acquitted of capital blasphemy charges, appealed yesterday to Germany to give her whole family citizenship to start a new life in Europe.

Saiful Mulook, Bibi’s lawyer, told a news conference in Frankfurt that Bibi was now free, but she and her family needed a passport to leave the country.

Bibi, 53, was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 over allegations she made derogatory remarks about Islam after neighbours objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim.

The Supreme Court had acquitted her last month.

“The whole world is asking why she’s not coming,” Mulook told reporters. “The answer is first that to leave a country you need a visa or you require a passport of another country.”

“If the German chancellor directs her ambassador to give a passport to her, her husband and her two daughters, conferring German nationality, nobody can stop her for one second because she is no longer Pakistani,” he added.

“So far, no government has come forward in such an open and free manner,” he said. It was unclear why citizenship, rather than a visa, was necessary for her to leave Pakistan, though Mulook said pressure from religious extremists was making it harder for Islamabad to arrange her departure.

She and her family are staying at a safe house in Pakistan, despite offers of asylum from countries, including Canada.

Mulook said the status of a friend of Bibi’s husband, who has a wife and five daughters, who would like to join them, was a sticking point. German officials have said that they and a number of other countries are in talks with Bibi’s family and the Pakistani government to find a way of rehousing her.