Revealed: PM blocked asylum for Christian persecuted in Pakistan

...yet UK was happy to give a home to this lot

THERESA MAY has been accused of refusing asylum to a Christian mother who is being hunted by lynch mobs in Pakistan.

The fate of Asia Bibi, above, has pitted Home Secretary Sajid Javid against the Prime Minister, with Mr Javid arguing passionately that she should be given refuge in the UK.

But sources say that his plan was thwarted after Ms May was persuaded that letting Bibi claim asylum here would ‘stoke tensions’ among British Muslims.

As the political row rages, The Mail on Sunday today reveals the full extent of the ordeal endured by Ms Bibi, a Roman Catholic from the Punjab province who was given the death sentence in 2010 after she was accused of defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed.

Our investigation reveals that on the day she was seized by villagers and accused of blasphemy she was paraded through her village with a leather noose around her neck, beaten with sticks by a baying mob during a ‘court’ hearing and told that her life would be spared only if she converted to Islam.

Bibi’s conviction was quashed last month following eight years in solitary confinement after Pakistan’s Supreme Court said the case was based on ‘inconsistent’ evidence.

The acquittal prompted days of demonstrations by thousands of hardline Islamists who demanded she be hanged. Ms Bibi is now 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.

So instead of being reunited with her five children she is being hunted across Pakistan, forced to scuttle under cover of darkness between safe houses.

Her supporters in the UK have lobbied the Government in vain to offer her asylum in Britain.

It is understood that Mr Javid was backed in his battle by Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, despite the fact his officials said allowing her to take sanctuary in the UK would endanger the security of British diplomats in Islamabad.

A senior Government source said: ‘Sajid was very sceptical about the official advice, and pushed hard for her to be given asylum here. It eventually landed on the Prime Minister’s desk, but she just followed the advice of the officials’.

Last night it was reported that Ms Bibi had been offered asylum by Australia.

Qamar Rafiq, a human rights activist who had campaigned for MS Bibi to be given sanctuary in Britain, said: ‘Not just me, lots of Christians are disappointed by the British Government not allowing her into the UK. A lot of our Muslim friends are also disappointed.’

Joseph Nadim, a Christian activist and a friend of Ms Bibi’s in Pakistan, said Britain should give her and her family asylum, adding: ‘If she stays here longer, she will be killed. I am disappointed they [the UK] have not offered her asylum.’

Ms Bibi was harvesting berries in 2009 when her Muslim co-workers accused her of being unclean, prompting an argument and allegations Ms Bibi blasphemed against Islam, which she strongly denies.

This newspaper has pieced together the terrifying sequence of events which followed: she was taken to a makeshift sharia court and flung at the feet of an imam, who told her: ‘You know what happens to people who insult the Prophet. You can redeem yourself by accepting Islam.’

Asia declined as the crowd began jeering and spitting. She was then whipped with sticks and sandals, leaving her bleeding and semi-conscious. Her life was only saved when a teacher intervened, saying she should be handed over to police.

The Foreign Office said: ‘The UK’s primary concern is for the safety of Asia Bibi and her family. A number of countries are in discussions to provide a safe destination’.

The Home Office declined to comment, while No10 said: ‘Bibi’s safety is the Prime Minister’s only concern.’