Ashiq Masih, her husband, said he
had not had the heart to break the news to two of
their children.
"I haven't told two of my younger
daughters about the court's decision," he said.
"They asked me many times about their mother but I
can't get the courage to tell them that the judge
has sentenced their mother to capital punishment for
a crime she never committed." Mrs Bibi has been held
in prison since June last year.
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 trial was clear," he said.
"She was innocent and did not say those words."
Earlier this year, Pakistan's internet service
providers were ordered to block Facebook to prevent
access to supposedly blasphemous images.
Human rights groups believe the
law is often used to discriminate against religious
minorities, such as the country's estimated three
million Christians.
Although no one has ever been
executed under Pakistan's blasphemy laws – most are
freed on appeal – as many as 10 people are thought
to have been murdered while on trial.
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should be repealed.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."
