Islamabad: A Christian woman sentenced to death by a court in Pakistan on blasphemy charges is likely to get presidential pardon, official source said on Saturday.
Asia Bibi, who was convicted by a court in the town of Nankana Sahib in Punjab province earlier this month, has already moved an appeal at the Lahore High Court. Her lawyer S.K. Chaudhry said the court would take up the case next week.
Punjab's Governor Salman Taseer visited the woman in jail in Sheikhupura in Punjab and told the media afterwards he would request President Asif Ali Zardari to grant her pardon. "I will soon meet President Asif Ali Zardari and hand him over Bibi's appeal," he said. "I hope that the president will pardon her."
The governor, who was shown by a private television channel as he spoke to media, described the punishment awarded by a district and sessions judge as "harsh and cruel."
The contents of the appeal were not immediately known, but Taseer said he was supporting it on humanitarian grounds.
In the past too blasphemy accused have been convicted by lower courts in the country but acquitted by the superior judiciary on appeal.
Pakistani minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, has said he has asked the provincial government to ensure security for Asia Bibi in jail. He expressed the hope that the sentence given to her would be set aside by the high court.
According to the minister the government is considering making changes in the blasphemy in consultation with the opposition and religious parties with a view to preventing its misuse and legislation in this regard could be done during the next year.
The 36-year-old farm worker was taken into custody by police in June last year and was convicted by a lower court on November 8. She has been in prison since then, with her case drawing international media attention as well as appeals by human rights groups, and, according to Pakistani media, Pope Benedict too.
"I told the police that I have not committed any blasphemy and this is a wrong accusation, but they did not listen to me," Bibi told reporters after meeting with Taseer.
"I have small kids. I have wrongly been implicated in this false case," she said in the prison, covered in a cloak that only revealed her eyes.
On Friday, Zardari asked the ministry for minorities affairs to compile a report on Bibi's case within three days after Pakistani media suggested the accusations stemmed from a village dispute. Bibi confirmed she had been involved in a dispute over livestock with her neighbours, but would not give any more details. Pakistani media said the quarrel began when some women who worked on the farm refused to drink water from a bowl used by Bibi.
— With inputs from agencies
