A 40-year-old woman was found guilty of burning Islam’s holy book and sentenced to life in prison, a court official in Pakistan’s Punjab province said on Friday.
Asia Bibi, a Muslim resident of Lahore’s densely populated Bedian Road area, was accused by a local man of burning a Quran outside her home in 2021 , she was arrested by the police.
“A Lahore court on Thursday sentenced Asia Bibi to life imprisonment for desecrating the Holy Quran,” a court official told PTI.
She was subsequently booked under the country’s strict blasphemy laws.
Her lawyer, Sarmad Ali, pointed to fundamental flaws in the case against Asia, saying she had not committed any blasphemy and was wrongly implicated by her neighbor to settle a personal score.
There were also apparent contradictions in the testimony of prosecution witnesses, and questions were raised as to why the main complainant was replaced by a police officer who was not a witness to the incident.
However, prosecutor Mohaqib Awais said Asia was caught burning a copy of the Quran, which was also found at the scene.
Announcing the verdict, court judge Imran Shaikh said “the prosecution has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt”.
Sarmad Ali said Asia Bibi would challenge the verdict of the Lahore High Court and expressed hope for relief from higher judicial authorities.
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