On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld the court's decision last year to acquit a Christian woman of blasphemy charges, allowing her to leave the country. The woman, Asia Bibi, was convicted of insulting Islam's Prophet Mohammad under Pakistan's strict blasphemy law in 2010, and she spent eight years on death row. After the Supreme Court's decision to acquit in October, radical Islamic clerics aligned with the Tehreek-e-Labaik party filed a petition to overturn the acquittal and send her back to death row.
"Based on merit, this petition is dismissed," Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said in court. He criticized the petitioners, saying Bibi's accusers are guilty of perjury and should probably be jailed for life. "The image of Islam we are showing to the world gives me much grief and sorrow," Khosa added. Bibil's lawyer, Saiful Malook, said the court "insisted on very strict proofs of blasphemy" and found none. Bibi has been living under guard in a secret location since her acquittal, and now she is expected to leave the country, possibly to join her daughters in Canada. Security was high in Islamabad ahead of the verdict.
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