A Christian woman has been sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed.

The court heard she had been working as a farmhand in fields with other women, when she was asked to fetch drinking water.

Some of the other women – all Muslims – refused to drink the water as it had been brought by a Christian and was therefore “unclean”, according to Mrs Bibi’s evidence, sparking a row.

The incident was forgotten until a few days later when Mrs Bibi said she was set upon by a mob.

The police were called and took her to a police station for her own safety.

Shahzad Kamran, of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan, said: “The police were under pressure from this Muslim mob, including clerics, asking for Asia to be killed because she had spoken ill of the Prophet Mohammed.

“So after the police saved her life they then registered a blasphemy case against her.” He added that she had been held in isolation for more than a year before being sentenced to death on Monday. . . .

The Christian woman, Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination.

Ali Hasan Dayan, of Human Rights Watch, said the blasphemy laws were out of step with rights guaranteed under Pakistan’s constitution and should be repealed.

“It’s an obscene law,” he said. “Essentially the blasphemy law is used as a tool of persecution and to settle other scores that are nothing to do with religion.

“It makes religious minorities particularly vulnerable because it’s often used against them.”

Article in the telegraph.co.uk, Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan ‘for  blasphemy’  

Please pray for Asia Bibi’s release, for blasphemy laws to be abolished and for religious persecution to stop.

I oppose blasphemy and religious vilification laws;  I agree with Irish atheists …  see article, Crime of blasphemy