District judge bows to pressure of local Muslims, handing down stunning sentence to Christian.
Attorneys for a
Christian mother of five sentenced to death by hanging for allegedly
speaking ill of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, have filed an appeal of
the verdict, they said.
Bowing to pressure from Muslim
extremists in Pakistan, according to the Christian woman’s husband and
rights groups, a district court judge handed down the stunning sentence
to Asia Noreen on Monday (Nov. 8). Additional District and Sessions
Judge Naveed Ahmed Chaudhary of Nankana Sahib district delivered the
verdict under Pakistan’s controversial “blasphemy” statute, the kind of
law that a resolution before the United Nations condemning “defamation
of religions” would make legitimate internationally.
