ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar will take up an appeal of blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi on Oct 8.
A death-row prisoner, the Christian woman was convicted of blasphemy in Nov 2010.
The SC Registrar’s Office has issued notices to the prosecutor general of Punjab and others.
Aasia’s lawyer Advocate Saiful Malook said that the apex court contacted his office and sought three paper books of the case.
In April, Chief Justice Nisar had expressed his intent to take up the case of the death-row prisoner.
Addressing Malook, he had said: “Your appeal in Aasia Bibi [case] is going to be fixed soon as I myself will preside [over] the bench.”
In June 2009, Aasia was involved in an argument with a group of women. Subsequently, she was accused of blasphemy. In 2010, lower court awarded her capital punishment. In 2014, the Lahore High Court upheld her death sentence. However, the apex court had issued stay order on her execution in July, 2015.
Her case was last heard on October 13, 2017 by a three-judge bench of the top court headed by the incumbent CJP and comprising Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik. The hearing was, however, quickly adjourned after Justice Rehman recused himself saying he was the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court when it heard the Salmaan Taseer assassination case.
Taseer, then governor Punjab, was assassinated on January 4, 2011 by his body guard while exiting a cafe in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market. The body guard, Mumtaz Qadri, killed Taseer for his stance on blasphemy law. Qadri was handed death sentence on October 1, 2011. He was executed on February 29, 2016.
