The Supreme Court has decided to take up review petition against the acquittal of Asia Bibi in a blasphemy case on January 29.
Court roster for January 29 revealed that a three-member special bench led by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan will hear the review petition.
The trial court had awarded death sentence to Asia Bibi over alleged blasphemy in 2010 while the Lahore High Court upheld the trial court’s verdict in 2014.
In 2011, then Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, who spoke out in support of Asia Bibi, was gunned down in broad daylight in Islamabad. His assassin Mumtaz Qadri was executed earlier in 2016 after the court found him guilty of murder.
Taking up an appeal by Asia Bibi on October 30 last year, a three-member bench led by then chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel had overturned the conviction. “The prosecution has categorically failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt,” the verdict had maintained.
It is pertinent to mention here that the acquittal of Asia Bibi had sparked mass protests across country led by Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
Filing review petition in the matter on November 1, 2018, in Lahore registry of the apex court, Qari Salaam had urged the court to revisit its decision in addition to placing Asia Bibi on the exit control list (ECL) till final decision of the review petition.
Published in Daily Times, January 25th 2019.
