MPs and campaigners last night demanded Britain should offer asylum to a Christian Pakistani woman facing a lynch mob after being freed from death row.
Asia Bibi spent eight years in solitary confinement on charges of blasphemy after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her Muslim neighbours.
The Roman Catholic and her family appealed for sanctuary in the UK after her conviction was quashed and hardliners took to the streets in violent protest.
A total of 19 Catholic MPs and Peers have written to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt urging him to allow her to come here.
Supporters of the Pakistani religious Islamist group Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal gather during a protest rally against the release of Asia Bibi on Thursday
Labour MP Mary Creagh, one of the signatories to the letter, said: ‘I think the world has been shocked by the awful treatment of Asia Bibi and her unjust imprisonment. Several countries have offered her asylum and it is a mark of shame that Britain has failed to do so given our large Pakistani community here and our historic ties.’
While John Woodcock, an Independent MP on the home affairs select committee, said: ‘The UK should be proud to be a sanctuary for those being persecuted because of their religion so it would be appalling if Asia Bibi is genuinely being denied asylum because of fears she could be targeted by Islamist hardliners over here.’
Wilson Chowdhry, from the British Pakistani Christian Association, said that Britain had been helpful, but added: ‘The failure of Britain to provide an offer of asylum to Asia is disturbing.
‘British people should feel disgusted at the recent actions of our Foreign Office which scrubs away a much lauded history of providing asylum and refuge to the most vulnerable victims of persecution.’
A total of 19 Catholic MPs and Peers have written to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt urging him to allow her to come here
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen added: ‘I think the Foreign Office should look again at this case and we should be offering her and her family asylum.’
Margot Parker, a Member of the European Parliament, said: ‘She must be allowed to live in peace with her family in a country that can offer sanctuary to a genuine refugee fleeing for her life.’
While Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘The UK ought to let her in, she clearly needs asylum.’
A candlelight vigil will be held for Ms Bibi outside Pakistan’s High Commission in London today.
Last night, the Home Office refused to comment on the case.
Beaten by a mob and told: ‘Convert to Islam… or die’
By Natalie Clarke
Somewhere in Islamabad, Asia Bibi is believed to be at a safe house, technically a free woman, but in fear for her life. But she is well used to that cloying sense of dread.
During her eight years in jail, every time the door to her cell opened, she feared someone had come to kill her.
Now she still needs protection after religious extremists threatened to kill her.
Asia Bibi was reported in 2009 by women who alleged that she had insulted Islam during a discussion near a well in the province of Punjab
Violent protests following her release brought Pakistan to a standstill and even her lawyer fled Pakistan last weekend after also receiving death threats.
The story of this farm labourer casts a deeply uncomfortable spotlight on Pakistan and attitudes towards Christians.
It is almost eight years ago to the day since Mrs Bibi was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging.
The Roman Catholic, 53, lived with her husband Ashiq Masih, a labourer, in Ittan Wali, a rural village in Punjab province.
Mr Masih had three children from a previous marriage and the couple had two children of their own. Life was tough and Mrs Bibi could not read or write.
Her ordeal began in June 2009 when she went out to pick berries on a farm with some other women, who were Muslim.
A row broke out when Ms Bibi went to fetch some water in a bucket and the other women refused to drink from it after being told by one woman that it was ‘haram’, Islamic for forbidden by God.
Prosecutors alleged the women said Mrs Bibi should convert to Islam and she made offensive comments about the Prophet Muhammad in response.
Five days later, a 200-strong mob surrounded her while she was out fruit picking and accused her of insulting the Prophet Muhammed. She says she was told to convert to Islam or die. When she refused, the mob set upon her and she was beaten with sticks and spat at.
The arrival of the police, who arrested Mrs Bibi, almost certainly saved her life. She was sentenced to hang on November 11, 2010 by a Pakistani court in Nankana district in Punjab Province.
A couple of weeks later, her husband said he and his children had been forced to flee from their home. They were spending a few weeks at a time in safe houses in Christian enclaves.
Ms Bibi then spent eight years in solitary confinement on charges of blasphemy after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad
‘I am frightened that they will come and beat us and kill us,’ said Mr Masih. ‘I keep getting phone calls from people with hidden numbers asking where I am and whether they can meet me. But I know what they want – they want us dead.’
Mr Masih said his wife was struggling to cope with the death sentence. ‘She had been very strong in prison,’ he said.
‘She is different now. She is mentally stressed. She is very scared for her life and for the life of her family.’ In January 2011, the then governor of the Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was murdered by his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, after he attempted to gain clemency for her.
In an interview she gave to Life for All, a Christian organisation, from jail in December 2011, she said: ‘I am allowed to go out for only 30 minutes every day and allowed to meet my family for one hour every Tuesday.
‘I am given raw material to cook for myself, since the administration fears I might be poisoned, as other Christians accused of blasphemy were poisoned or killed in the jail.’ She said a guard had been suspended for trying to kill her.
At the time, Mrs Bibi said: ‘I am hopeful that I will be released although there is a bounty of about $8,000 (£5,100) offered by the Islamic clerics to anyone who will kill me.’
Her family and human rights groups continued to campaign and her case has been supported by the Vatican.
But in 2014, an appeal was quashed by Lahore High Court amid reports that Mrs Bibi’s health had deteriorated. And, at the end of last month, Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned the conviction.
In response, thousands of protesters took to the streets. In an apparent act of appeasement, the government agreed a deal with Islamic parties to begin proceedings to put Mrs Bibi on a no-fly list.
But she and her family are desperate to leave and find a safe sanctuary abroad.