Politicians BRAWL over Christian woman saved from death row for blasphemy in Pakistan as her lawyer revealed he was ‘forced’ to flee to Europe by the UN to save his life
- Footage shows rival politicians coming to blows in Pakistan’s National Assembly
- Brawl broke out as they discussed Asia Bibi case in the wake of her acquittal
- The Christian’s death sentence was overturned last week, infuriating hardliners
- It comes as Bibi’s lawyer claimed the UN and EU had made him leave the country
Politicians have been filmed brawling in a row over a Christian woman saved from a death row blasphemy conviction in Pakistan.
Footage shows members of government and opposition parties coming to blows in the country’s National Assembly in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s top court acquitted Asia Bibi on Wednesday and ordered her release in a move that infuriated the country’s hard-line Islamists, who have held nationwide protests demanding her death.
The National Assembly fight erupted over an agreement the government made with Islamists in which it agreed to impose a travel ban on her while the case is reviewed.
It comes as Bibi’s lawyer claimed the UN and EU had made him leave the country.
Politicians have been filmed brawling in a row over a Christian woman saved from a death row blasphemy conviction in Pakistan
Footage shows members of government and opposition parties coming to blows in the country’s National Assembly in Islamabad
Bibi’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Malook, who has fled to Holland, said he was flown out of Pakistan ‘against my wishes’ after becoming a ‘prime target’ with Islamist violence erupting in the wake of Asia Bibi’s aquittal last week
Asia Bibi, 53, was sentenced to death in 2010, after being accused of insulting Islam during an argument over a water bowl with a group of Muslim women in Punjab
Saif-ul-Malook, who has fled to Holland, said he was flown out of Pakistan ‘against my wishes’ after becoming a ‘prime target’ with Islamist violence erupting in the wake of Asia Bibi’s aquittal last week.
Amid heightened tensions, Malook revealed he had contacted a United Nations official in Islamabad following the Pakistani Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday.
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He said he was then put on a plane having been told his life was in ‘imminent danger’.
‘And then they (the UN) and the European nation ambassadors in Islamabad, they kept me for three days and then put me on a plane against my wishes,’ the lawyer told a press conference in The Hague.
‘I pressed them that I would not leave the country unless I get Asia out of the prison… I am not happy to be here without her, but everybody said that you are the prime target at the moment and the whole world is taking care of Asia Bibi.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Ms Bibi’s blasphemy conviction sparked violent protests, seen here on Sunday, calling for the mother-of-five to be executed
The protests only subsided after Khan’s government made a deal with hardline Islamist that they could appeal her release, and that Ms Bibi would have to stay in the country
‘They were of the view that I was the prime target to be killed, and that my life was in imminent danger. For three days they did not let me open the door, one day I called the French ambassador and said I do not want to be here.’
The lawyer had previously told AFP before his departure on Saturday that he was leaving because ‘in the current scenario, it’s not possible for me to live in Pakistan’.
Malook arrived in The Hague at the weekend after a short stopover in Rome, with the help of the HVC Foundation, a Dutch group that focuses on the human rights of Christian minorities.
Asia Bibi spent nearly a decade on death row after being accused of blasphemy following a dispute with fellow villagers over drinking from the same bowl of water. The charge is an inflammatory one in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
But she remains in Pakistan after Prime Minister Imran Khan struck a deal with the Islamist hardliners behind the protests to bar her from leaving until a final court appeal is heard.
Former cricket legend Khan has faced accusations of a capitulation to ultra-conservative Islamists who called for the assassination of the country’s Supreme Court justices and mutiny against the army’s top brass in the ruling’s wake.
Plea: Ms Bibi’s husband Ashiq Masih, pictured with their daughter Eisham, has asked Donald Trump and Theresa May to grant the family asylum
Ms Bibi is set to be freed from prison, but the family has said it is going to be too dangerous for them to stay in Pakistan
Asia Bibi is seen with her two youngest children Eisham, left, and her sister Esha, right, who has learning difficulties – now aged 18 and 17
Khan’s first wife, British activist and filmmaker Jemima Khan, joined the chorus chiding the premier for backing down, saying his administration had effectively signed Bibi’s ‘death warrant.’
Malook dismissed the deal as a ‘face-saving’ exercise for the hardliners from the Tehreek-e-Labaik party and insisted that Asia Bibi would ‘100 percent’ be freed soon.
‘This compromise is nothing but a piece of paper that can be thrown in the dustbin,’ he said.
‘The government cannot enter into any such agreement with anybody.’
It was not clear whether Bibi had had any firm offers of asylum if she does leave Pakistan, added the lawyer, who said he was ‘legally authorised’ to choose a country for her.
Her husband has pleaded for international help to leave the country.
The lawyer said a UN official in Pakistan told him ‘we are taking care of her’ but that ‘when I said which country, they said we can’t say.
Anger: Despite Friday’s deal, the protests continued across Pakistan this weekend
‘I asked the French ambassador ‘would your country be willing to offer asylum to Asia Bibi. He said if you request us legally, I said ‘OK I request her’.’
Italian authorities had meanwhile apologised to him after he was held for several hours at Rome airport, Malook said.
The mayor of Paris on Monday said she was ‘ready to welcome’ Asia Bibi to Paris and urged the French government to intervene with Islamabad.
‘France has a duty to help her and her family by intervening with the Pakistani government so that she is allowed to gain asylum in another country where she will be safe and completely free to practise her religion,’ Mayor Anne Hidalgo told AFP.
The EU gave no initial response to the lawyer’s comments, but earlier called on Pakistan to ‘take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of any Pakistani citizen, including of course Ms Bibi,’ European Commission spokesman Carlos Martin Ruiz De Gordejuela told a daily briefing.
There was no immediate reaction from the UN.
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