Pak cleric puts bounty on blasphemy accused Christian woman

PESHAWAR - A Pakistani cleric has announced a 500,000-rupee-bounty on Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman who has been sentenced to death on blasphemy charges.

Maulana Mohammad Yousaf Qureshi, a cleric of the historic Mohabat Khan mosque, made this announcement while addressing a protest demonstration staged by Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI in connection with amendment in the Blasphemy Act, The Nation reports.

While demanding that the government execute Aasia, Qureshi said the administration of Masjid Mohabat Khan was ready to award the bounty to any person, belonging to the Taliban or any other group, for killing the blasphemy accused.

There were a large number of people who would not regret giving any sacrifice for that cause, he added.

It is pertinent to mention that on November 29, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif had issued an interim order, restraining President Asif Ali Zardari and his functionaries from taking any action with regard to the death sentence awarded to Aasia under blasphemy laws.

The 45-year-old mother of five has already spent a year-and-a-half in jail on charges of insulting the prophet Muhammad and the Quran.

She was sentenced to death after a district judge found her guilty of having stated that insects had feasted upon the prophet Muhammad’s ear prior to his death and that he married his first wife for wealth, and that the Quran was written by man and not God. Aasia denied the accusations, claiming ignorance of Islamic knowledge. (ANI)