The lawyer who represented a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy left the country on Saturday, saying his life was under threat.
The Supreme Court overturned Asia Bibi’s death sentence on Wednesday. The decision sparked protests across the country, with roads blocked in major cities as religious parties called for the death of the judges and those who helped acquit Bibi, who has already spent nearly a decade on death row.
“In the current scenario, it’s not possible for me to live in Pakistan,” 62-year-old Saif-ul-Mulook said before boarding a plane to Europe early Saturday morning. “I need to stay alive as I still have to fight the legal battle for Asia Bibi,” he said.
When asked about the protests, Mulook said it was ‘unfortunate but not unexpected’. “What’s painful is the response of the government. They cannot even implement an order of the country’s highest court,” he said, adding that the struggle for justice must continue. Legal proceedings will follow an agreement reached between government and the protesters to impose a travel ban on Bibi and stop her leaving the country. “Her life would be more or less the same, either inside a prison or in solitary confinement for security fears until a decision on the appeal,” said Mulook.
Published in Daily Times, November 4th 2018.
