THE HAGUE: Saiful Mulook, the Pakistani lawyer of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy on Saturday jetted out of the Netherlands to “hopefully assist his client for the last time” in a Pakistani court hearing, a Dutch member of parliament said.
Mulook fled to the Netherlands from Pakistan in November last year after violent protests by a far-right party erupted over the Pakistani Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the conviction of Aasia Bibi, who was on death row.
On October 31, 2018, the apex court had acquitted Aasia Bibi, who was facing a death sentence for blasphemy and ordered to release her from prison immediately, dismissing the Lahore High Court (LHC) judgment.
Following the acquittal verdict, protests had erupted in several cities.
Enraged masses had blocked several routes across the country for two days, while at some places they had also set fire to vehicles. The demonstrations saw the closure of schools, colleges, and universities, as well as cancellation of examinations.
The government and the protesters from different religious groups, led by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Rizvi, reached an agreement two days later on November 2.
The law enforcement agencies had rounded up around 1,800 individuals within days. The Ministry of Interior had said that the arrested suspects had been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
Although the government decided to take action against miscreants involved in vandalism, torture, and arson during the demonstrations across the country, it later showed leniency by dropping the cases against the TLP workers.
Separately, the Supreme Court (SC) fixed a review petition against its verdict acquitting Aasia Bibi in the country’s most high-profile blasphemy case last year.
The case will be heard by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel on January 29. The review petition has been filed by Qari Muhammad Salaam.
Now, the Supreme Court will decide on Tuesday whether to allow an appeal against Bibi’s acquittal, lawyers in the case have said. If the court refuses to allow the appeal, it will remove the last legal hurdle facing Bibi who remains in protective custody.
Christian Union party parliamentarian Joel Voordewind tweeted a picture of himself and Mulook saying “this afternoon (Saturday) I escorted Aasia Bibi’s lawyer, Mulook to Schiphol airport.”
“He’s going back to Pakistan to hopefully represent Aasia for the last time in her case,” Voordewind said.
The Netherlands last year granted Mulook a temporary stay, but Voordewind said Mulook will “unfortunately lose his asylum status in the Netherlands”.
