New fears for health of freed blasphemy mum Asia
FEARS are growing for a Christian mother freed from a blasphemy death sentence in Pakistan who is said to be ‘very unwell’.
Asia Bibi remains in protective custody sheltering from lynch mobs as she endures an agonising wait to leave the country after her acquittal.
Last month the decision was bravely upheld by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, but her freedom is now being blocked by the army, sources told the Daily Mail.
Her health is failing and she is being denied access to medical care, they said.
The 53- year- old had been expected to leave Pakistan for a new life in Canada in January but her escape is ‘no longer imminent’, it is understood.
Mrs Bibi is said to be suffering from very low blood pressure as she languishes in a safe house with her husband Ashiq Masih.
The mother of two became a global cause celebre for enduring eight years on death row after allegedly insulting Islam.
She was convicted in 2010 of offending the Prophet Mohammed under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws following a trivial argument with Muslim farm colleagues over a cup of water.
Last October, she was freed on appeal, sparking violent demonstrations stoked by Taliban-supporting mullahs.
She was placed under armed protection from Islamist death squads as she desperately sought asylum in a Western country.
Britain was urged to offer the devoted Christian sanctuary, but never did – and was accused of ‘pulling up the drawbridge’. Eventually, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau stepped in to grant the Bibi family refuge.
Her two daughters are already there, but Mrs Bibi’s escape from Pakistan has been repeatedly delayed, to mounting alarm among her family and friends.
British officials say the Pakistani government has ‘confirmed that Asia Bibi is free to make her own decisions and to leave Pakistan’.
But in reality, senior figures within the military – which has close ties to extremists – are trying to stop her going.
Mrs Bibi and her husband do not even know their own whereabouts, and foreign diplomats believe the delay in processing the asylum paperwork is deliberate. Even Canadian envoys have struggled to contact Mrs Bibi.
Yesterday a source told the Mail: ‘Asia has extremely low blood pressure and she is not getting the medical treatment she needs.
‘Everyone is very worried. She won her appeal and was supposed
‘They are in control of her’
to be out of Pakistan by now. Even though the government says she can leave, the army has all the power in this case.
‘They are in control of her. They are fearful about getting a negative press if she speaks out about her experiences – but they will get an even worse press if she dies in protective custody.’
After she was freed in October, Mrs Bibi was blocked from leaving Pakistan by Imran Khan, the prime minister and former cricketer, who promised hardliners a Supreme Court review.
But last month three judges delivered their verdict, upholding her acquittal and removing the final legal obstacle to her escape.
It was a brave decision, as the case has already led to killings. In 2011, the governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was gunned down. Two months later another supporter, Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s minister for minorities, was shot as he drove through Islamabad.