Asia Bibi

[Silentlyobserving]

Brendan on the abandonment of Asia Bibi in Spiked: www.spiked-online.com/2018/11/05/the-abandonment-of-asia-bibi/

I'm not sure I agree with Brendan using it to score points against the left (as far as I can tell, the newspapers have been pretty united in reporting that what's been done to Asia has been horrific), but we do need to press for diplomatic pressure to be brought to bear.

In particular, trying to get Imran Khan to reverse the decision about putting her on a no-fly list. She and her family need to be got out of the country as quickly as possible, and given political asylum somewhere safe.

She is already on an airplane out of Pakistan

How come? Where is she heading to?

BBC reporting that she may be on a flight - hopefully this is true.

How come? Did you not see the rampaging on the streets demanding her death?
Where is she heading? If you are really interested you would read the news

I hope and pray she is on a flight out of Pakistan.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46130189

I've been praying for Asia for a long time. I hope that she makes it out of the country alive. There was footage of the male mob baying for her death on the news earlier and I said to my family "If you want a visual depiction of patriarchal hatred of women, there it is."

I shall continue to pray.

It's such a vile case. So very sad. I hope and pray she may be well and happy and safe.

Awful. I hope her lawyer(s?) and the judge are safe too.

Op. Yes I have been following her story and your mention was the first I had heard of her flying somewhere. I had understood she was barred from leaving despite the baying crowds hence my question.

Radio 4 reporting she has flown to another city in Pakistan. As Fermat's says there needs to be more political pressure. Hopefully diplomacy is going on behind the scenes.

"If you want a visual depiction of patriarchal hatred of women, there it is."

I would have described it as an example of the toxicity of religion.

The background from BBC site

This trial stems from an argument Asia Bibi had with a group of women.
They were harvesting fruit when a row broke out about a bucket of water. The women said that because she had used a cup, they could no longer touch it, as her faith had made it unclean.
Prosecutors alleged that in the row which followed, the women said Asia Bibi should convert to Islam and that she made offensive comments about the Prophet Muhammad in response.

I would have described it as an example of the toxicity of religion.

That is the main factor here, extreme religious intolerance. There have, unfortunately, been many incidents of men suffering because of it too. There have been cases in such societies which do demonstrate 'patriarchal hatred of women' (the criminalising of rape victims) but on 'blasphemy' or simply being the wrong religion, I'm not sure it's any better for men.

That's true enough, though I'm not eager to get into the boggy minefield of the specifics of the religious oppression here - my comment was based on the images of entirely male angry crowds, largely because there is a religiously flavoured patriarchal restriction on 'free mixing' in certain parts of Islam so no women were around.

I don't think it's at all easy to extricate patriarchy from certain aspects of religion.

Religious and other community intolerance appears when there are strict prohibitions and penalties for certain forms of behaviour.

Abusers play damned if you do, damned if you don't.
There's another thread where women speaking out on prison rights and safety issues in women's prisons are being corrected for daring to speak out on an issue that does not affect them, since they are all white and middle class.
Recently, women speaking out on women's rights who wanted to speak in Ireland as well as on the mainland were told to stay at home.

I have no doubt that if women did speak out on behalf of Asia that they would be criticized for speaking out of turn and ignoring issues closer to home - and that Brendan knows that.

It's a horrific case. I do hope she and her family make it out of Pakistan OK, but I worry about her safety elsewhere - fanatics are everywhere, unfortunately.

But Asia was transferred to Islamabad, so she is still in Pakistan, so, she is not yet safe, no?

She's on her way to a new life in the Netherlands. It's a great country with fabulous people.

Oh god I hope that's true, Uretha. It's the news I've been waiting to hear.

'However, Pakistan's foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said the mother of five has not left the country. "There is no truth in reports about Bibi leaving the country -- it is fake news," he said.
'
www.ndtv.com/world-news/asia-bibi-leaving-for-netherlands-fake-news-say-pakistan-officials-1944392

I hope that's actually fake news itself, who knows. Given the threats of violence, if the Pakistani authorities had let her leave I wouldn't blame them at all if they wanted to obfuscate.

Shameful if true. Not an exaggeration though - remember the Ahmadi shopkeeper murdered in Glasgow?

twitter.com/MaajidNawaz/status/1061020890517958661

My guess is the plan is for her to stay in Pakistan until the masses find something else to riot about, and then move abroad (Italy or Israel might be her best bet). However the Pakistani authorities handled this terribly— to think Pakistan once used to be on a par with India and China. It’s now very much the provincial swampwater and the politicians have only themselves to blame.

I can only hope it is false news to prevent any extremists in The Netherlands attacking her. I'm not holding my breath on this given the Pakistani authorities were responsible for imprisoning her in the first place.

It’s possible Pakistani authorities have no idea where she is. You can enter and leave Pakistan from any non-Indian border without anyone knowing.

I had understood she had left for the Netherlands. Hard enough for the Pakistani authorities anyway particularly for Imran Khan as he won by chasing the religious vote.