Islamabad: Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent nearly a decade on death row for a false blasphemy accusation, is finally free. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed a review petition against its October 2018 verdict which turned the conviction of Aasia Bibi. The blasphemy related offenses carry mandatory death penalty under Pakistani law.
A review petition was filed on 1st November 2018 by Qari Muhammad Salam, a cleric who had fabricated the alleged blasphemy case against Bibi in 2009. He had requested the top court to reconsider its decision.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa headed the 3-member bench of the apex court said that the review petition "is dismissed on merit". The Chief Justice rejecting the plea to constitute a large bench comprising of Islamic Scholars to hear the petition saying, "We are not hearing the case again, the lawyer was unable to point out a single error in the judgement."
The apex court has cleared Bibi of all the blasphemy charges in October last year and ordered her immediate realease from the prison. She can now leave the country to join her family in exile in Canada.