The complainant in the Asia Bibi case, Qari Salam, has pleaded to the Supreme Court for an early hearing of his review petition against court’s verdict acquitting Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted on blasphemy charges in 2010, a private TV channel reported.
The appeal was filed by lawyer Ghulam Mustafa representing Qari Salam, who had got registered the original blasphemy case against Asia Bibi in which she was sentenced to death by a trial court. The Supreme Court overturned the sentence on Wednesday, acquitting Asia Bibi of the blasphemy charges and ordering her release.
On Thursday, Salam filed a petition in the apex court’s Lahore registry asking for a review of the verdict by the three-judge bench. In the review plea, the petitioner urged the court to have Asia Bibi put on the exit control list (ECL) to stop her from leaving the country until a decision on the review petition is announced. The petitioner argued that Bibi confessed to her crime during the investigation, and that a delay in lodging the first information report (FIR) does not imply that the defendant is not guilty.
Published in Daily Times, November 3rd 2018.
