Pakistan: Canada in Talks With Pakistan Over Asia Bibi Asylum

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman acquitted from blasphemy charges is seeking asylum in Canada, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is overseeing the negotiation process.

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“There is a delicate domestic context that we respect which is why I don't want to say any more about that, but I will remind people Canada is a welcoming country," Prime Minister Trudeau told AFP.

Bibi spent a total of eight years on death-row before her sentence was overturned by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

Her release was not a cause for celebration in her country, as protesters took to the streets in violent demonstrations demanding her public execution.

To make matters worse, fake images of her leaving the country have spread recently generating more anger from protesters.

Bibi and her husband fear reprisals against themselves and family members which makes it all the more urgent for them to quickly get asylum in a foreign country.

For the moment, the Pakistani government, who is keeping Bibi in a secret location, has denied the veracity of the pictures of her fleeing the country.

As a response to the Court’s decision, the Tehreek-e-Labbak Party issues a fatwa which actually calls for the death of the magistrates who implemented the acquittal.

In 2011, the governor of Punjab Province was assassinated for defending Bibi and criticizing the blasphemy law. But the persecution didn’t stop there. In 2012, interior minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was shot and killed.

In 2011, the United Nations condemned Bhattis’ assassination, the second government official killed within a short period, for opposing the nation’s blasphemy laws, “These murders are a tragedy for Pakistan and those who envision a future for the country centred on human rights,” said Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to which she added, “I hope the Government of Pakistan will not only hold the killers to account, but reflect on how it can more effectively confront the extremism which is poisoning Pakistani society.”