Pakistan: Court due to hear appeal against Asia Bibi's acquittal

Asia Bibi's acquittal will be appealed against in Pakistan's Supreme Court tomorrow, Tuesday 29 January 2019, in an attempt by Pakistan's hard-line anti-Christian lobby to prevent her freedom and have the death penalty imposed upon her.

Open Doors advocacy spokesman Dr Matthew Rees said: "The Supreme Court's decision will send a powerful signal. Can Christians and other minorities' rights be protected in Pakistan?

"The blasphemy laws in Pakistan are often used corruptly to allow persecution with impunity and to silence witnesses to crimes. Asia's case and the violence surrounding it symbolises the extremes of opinion on these laws.

"Asia has suffered for too many years for a crime she did not commit. She has been declared innocent by the highest court in Pakistan and deserves to rebuild her life."

A partner of Open Doors who works on the ground in Pakistan said: "Asia Bibi is a much-loved and prayed-for woman. What happens to her impacts the whole of the Christian community."

Asia was arrested in 2009 after being accused of insulting the prophet Mohammed and sentenced to death the following year. Despite lack of evidence and contradictions in witness testimonies, court cases and appeals dragged on until finally, in 2018, Asia Bibi was acquitted by the Supreme Court.

Massive and often violent protests organised by the TLP (Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan), an Islamist political party that was founded to 'protect' the blasphemy laws, shut down the country, until finally the Supreme Court promised to review its earlier ruling. Infuriated militants 'called for Asia's beheading, mutiny within the powerful military and the assassination of the country's top judges', according to media reports.

The appeal against Asia's acquittal was filed by Mr Gulam Mustafa Chaudhry, an advocate who has demonstrated his hostility toward Pakistan's Christian minorities. He is determined to ensure that Pakistan's blasphemy laws remain sharp, and are a constant reminder of the direction in which organisations like TLP are driving the country. Chaudhry is known for his pro bono work on behalf of anyone wishing to bring a blasphemy case against a minority. He has been heard saying that, "Only death is a suitable for those who blaspheme against the Prophet of Islam".

After the Supreme Court ruling, Asia was released from prison, but barred from leaving the country. She has been in hiding ever since she left her prison cell, awaiting the Supreme Court's review.

Asia's lawyer, Saif-ul-Malook, who sought refuge in The Netherlands after the violence erupted in Pakistan in November, has announced his return to his country to aid Asia, a Dutch MP tweeted on Saturday. "[Saturday] I escorted Mr Mahook to his departure from airport Schiphol. He returns to Pakistan to hopefully defend Asia for the last time in a court case. Unfortunately, he will lose his asylum status in the Netherlands."

Pakistan is number five on Open Doors World Watch List. Historic churches have been subject to bomb attacks. All Christians suffer from institutionalised discrimination, with occupations that are seen as low, dirty and derogatory being officially reserved for Christians, most of whom are from the poorer classes. Radical Islamic groups, courted by political parties, the army and government, run thousands of schools capable of stirring up enmity towards religious minorities.

Source: indcatholicnews, Open Doors, January 29, 2019

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Indiana executes Benjamin Ritchie

Death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie was executed by lethal injection shortly after midnight Tuesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to Department of Correction officials. The death sentence was carried out nearly 25 years after Ritchie shot and killed Beech Grove law enforcement officer William Toney. The condemned man had been on death row since his conviction in 2002. Details about the 45-year-old’s execution were sparse. No independent media representatives were permitted to witness the process.

Iran | Singer Amirhossein Tataloo at Grave Risk of Execution for Blasphemy

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 17, 2025: Asghar Jahangir, Iran’s Judiciary spokesman announced today that the blasphemy death conviction of Amirhossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, has been upheld by the Supreme Court and sent for enforcement. The singer’s defence lawyer, Majid Naghshi, previously reported filing a judicial review request. Reiterating its opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances, Iran Human Rights considers the use of this inhumane punishment for charges such as blasphemy to be a flagrant violation of international human rights law and calls on civil society and the international community not remain silent about Amirhossein Maghsoudlou’s death penalty.

Indiana man set for execution in state's second since 2009

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2000 killing of a police officer is set to receive a lethal injection early Tuesday in the state’s second execution in 15 years. Benjamin Ritchie, 45, has been on death row for more than 20 years after being convicted in the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase. Unless there’s last-minute court action, Ritchie is scheduled to be executed “before the hour of sunrise” at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to state officials.

South Carolina | Death row inmate seeks to volunteer to die after friends are executed

A South Carolina death row inmate has said he wants to become his own attorney, a decision that would likely lead to his own execution after his best friend and four fellow inmates were put to death in less than a year. A 45-day delay in James Robertson's request was ordered by a federal judge, allowing time for a different lawyer to talk to him and make sure he really wants to fire his own attorneys. The consequences of his decision are likely to be lethal. The 51-year-old Robertson has been on death row since 1999 after killing both his parents in their Rock Hill home. He beat his father with the claw end of a hammer and a baseball bat and stabbed his mother. He then tried to make it look like a robbery in hopes he would get his part of their $2.2 million estate, prosecutors said.

Tennessee executes Oscar Franklin Smith

The state of Tennessee has executed Oscar Franklin Smith, sentenced to death for the 1989 killings of his estranged wife Judith Robirds Smith and her two teenage sons, Chad Burnett and Jason Burnett, in Nashville. Smith, 75, was killed by a fatal dose of the drug pentobarbital injected into his veins at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. He was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. May 22. Smith's execution marks a return to capital punishment in Tennessee after the governor instituted a moratorium on the state's most severe penalty. It had been five years since a Tennessee prisoner died by execution and six years since the state killed someone by lethal injection.

Oscar Franklin Smith, Tennessee death row inmate, declines to select execution method

Oscar Franklin Smith, a Tennessee death row inmate scheduled for execution on May 22, will die by lethal injection if the process moves forward. Smith, who was asked to choose between lethal injection and the electric chair, declined to pick, his attorney Kelley Henry, a supervisory assistant federal public defender, said. When an inmate does not choose, the method defaults to lethal injection. It's not the first time Smith has been given this grim decision and declined. That decision to not choose ultimately saved his life for three more years.

Florida executes Glen Rogers

Florida executes suspected serial killer once eyed for possible link to the OJ Simpson case A suspected serial killer once scrutinized for a possible link to the O.J. Simpson case that riveted the nation in the 1990s was executed Thursday in Florida for the murder of a woman found dead in a Tampa motel room. Glen Rogers, 62, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke and was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m., authorities said. He was convicted in Florida of the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs, a 34-year-old mother of 2 he had met at a bar.

Iran | Convicted killer hanged in Tabriz. Execution carried out by his uncle, who was plaintiff in the case

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 10, 2025: Hassan Saei, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. His execution was carried out by his uncle, who was the plaintiff in the case. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 6 May 2025. His identity has been established as Hassan Saei who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. An informed source told IHRNGO: “Hassan Saei was arrested for the murder of his cousin and his maternal uncle carried out the execution.”

Texas Set to Execute Fourth Inmate of the Year

Matthew Johnson was convicted of the 2012 murder of Nancy Harris in Dallas County. Matthew Johnson’s guilt was never in question. On the stand during his 2013 trial, he admitted to the crime that landed him on death row. The attack—an early morning robbery and murder in a populous Dallas suburb—was also caught on camera. Johnson is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on May 20, exactly 13 years to the day after he robbed a Fina Whip-In convenience store in Garland and set the store clerk on fire. Johnson was convicted of the murder of Nancy Harris, the 76-year-old clerk.

Texas executes Matthew Lee Johnson

Texas man is executed 13 years to the day of a store robbery in which he set a clerk on fire A Texas man was executed Tuesday evening, 13 years to the day of a convenience store robbery in which he set a clerk on fire in a Dallas suburb. Matthew Lee Johnson, 49, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 20, 2012, attack on 76-year-old Nancy Harris, a great-grandmother he splashed with lighter fluid and set ablaze in the suburb of Garland. Badly burned, she died days afterward.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog