{"id":6329,"date":"2018-11-01T06:11:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T06:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/?p=6329"},"modified":"2021-12-15T06:12:19","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T06:12:19","slug":"after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Press release<\/p>\n<p><strong>After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Lahore, 1 November 2018<\/em>. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has greatly welcomed the Supreme Court\u2019s landmark judgement acquitting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and sentenced to death. In a statement issued today, HRCP has said:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018While there is every reason to be relieved that Aasia Bibi has been acquitted after eight years of incarceration in the perpetual shadow of a death sentence, that Pakistan should have come this close to executing a woman for \u2018blasphemy\u2019 is a sobering thought. It is also worth remembering what this case alone has cost in terms of other lives lost for a principle \u2013 both the Punjab governor, Salmaan Taseer, and the federal minister for minorities\u2019 affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, had advocated bravely and publicly for Aasia Bibi\u2019s release.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018With at least 40 other people reportedly on death row or serving life sentences for blasphemy, both the state and civil society need to introspect. From a human rights perspective, the Supreme Court\u2019s detailed judgment underlines several of the most problematic aspects of applying the blasphemy laws. The presumption of innocence is too easily buried by moral outrage, which invariably pits the vulnerable and underprivileged against those in majority. Moreover, the evidence of extrajudicial confession cannot be allowed to hold any legal worth.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018HRCP strongly condemns the vicious reaction of all far-right religious-political groups who have taken to violent protests and openly threatened the lives of those associated with this case. While we welcome the government\u2019s stance that the rule of law must be upheld, HRCP urges the state to make it perfectly clear that any party\u2019s incitement to religious hatred \u2013 notably that of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan \u2013 will not be tolerated and is punishable under the law. Moreover, while it is critical that the judges and lawyers associated with this and similar cases be provided adequate security, this is a short-term solution to a longer, harder battle. Ultimately, the state must consider reforming the blasphemy laws in the interest of applying the law to all its citizens fairly, irrespective of their faith.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr Mehdi Hasan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chairperson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Press release After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle Lahore, 1 November 2018. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has greatly welcomed the Supreme Court\u2019s landmark judgement acquitting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and sentenced to death. In a statement issued today, HRCP has said: \u2018While there is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle - HRCP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle - HRCP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Press release After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle Lahore, 1 November 2018. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has greatly welcomed the Supreme Court\u2019s landmark judgement acquitting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and sentenced to death. In a statement issued today, HRCP has said: \u2018While there is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HRCP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-01T06:11:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-15T06:12:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HRCPDefaultImage.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"302\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamal Ahmad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamal Ahmad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jamal Ahmad\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/11dc4daa6f104abadceb84598ac1d679\"},\"headline\":\"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-01T06:11:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-15T06:12:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":365,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"English\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/\",\"name\":\"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle - HRCP\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-01T06:11:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-15T06:12:19+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/\",\"name\":\"HRCP\",\"description\":\"Human Rights Commission of Pakistan\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Human Rights Commission of Pakistan\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/HRCPDefaultImage.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/HRCPDefaultImage.jpg\",\"width\":540,\"height\":302,\"caption\":\"Human Rights Commission of Pakistan\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/11dc4daa6f104abadceb84598ac1d679\",\"name\":\"Jamal Ahmad\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e08f59c4e3bfd509a8722a2c1832b1c419872a610f7a0b39f6687a0101a1dcbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e08f59c4e3bfd509a8722a2c1832b1c419872a610f7a0b39f6687a0101a1dcbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e08f59c4e3bfd509a8722a2c1832b1c419872a610f7a0b39f6687a0101a1dcbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jamal Ahmad\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hrcp-web.org\\\/hrcpweb\\\/author\\\/jamal-ahmad\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle - HRCP","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle - HRCP","og_description":"Press release After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle Lahore, 1 November 2018. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has greatly welcomed the Supreme Court\u2019s landmark judgement acquitting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and sentenced to death. In a statement issued today, HRCP has said: \u2018While there is","og_url":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/","og_site_name":"HRCP","article_published_time":"2018-11-01T06:11:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-15T06:12:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":540,"height":302,"url":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HRCPDefaultImage.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jamal Ahmad","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jamal Ahmad","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/"},"author":{"name":"Jamal Ahmad","@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#\/schema\/person\/11dc4daa6f104abadceb84598ac1d679"},"headline":"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle","datePublished":"2018-11-01T06:11:04+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-15T06:12:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/"},"wordCount":365,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#organization"},"articleSection":["English"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/","url":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/","name":"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle - HRCP","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-11-01T06:11:04+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-15T06:12:19+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/after-the-aasia-bibi-verdict-a-longer-battle\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"After the Aasia Bibi verdict, a longer battle"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/","name":"HRCP","description":"Human Rights Commission of Pakistan","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#organization","name":"Human Rights Commission of Pakistan","url":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HRCPDefaultImage.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/HRCPDefaultImage.jpg","width":540,"height":302,"caption":"Human Rights Commission of Pakistan"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/#\/schema\/person\/11dc4daa6f104abadceb84598ac1d679","name":"Jamal Ahmad","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e08f59c4e3bfd509a8722a2c1832b1c419872a610f7a0b39f6687a0101a1dcbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e08f59c4e3bfd509a8722a2c1832b1c419872a610f7a0b39f6687a0101a1dcbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e08f59c4e3bfd509a8722a2c1832b1c419872a610f7a0b39f6687a0101a1dcbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jamal Ahmad"},"url":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/author\/jamal-ahmad\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6330,"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329\/revisions\/6330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}