Islamabad, Pakistan
In Pakistan today, Asia Bibi, a Christian wife and mother, sits alone in a 1.8m by 2.4m jail cell, awaiting possible execution. Her ‘crime' was that she spoke the truth about her faith. Asia is an ordinary Pakistani Christian, an impoverished fruit picker, but she is a vital link in the Lord's plan to bring His truth to Pakistan and the entire world. Militant Muslims view Asia and courageous Pakistani evangelists as blasphemers. They are offended and angered by the truth of the Gospel, and they think they are serving Allah by burning churches and jailing or killing Christians.
Asia Bibi's daughters, Isha (12) and Isham (8) have lived without their mother for more than two years, and they have seen her just once since last March and only a few times since Asia's arrest in June 2009. After Asia was imprisoned, her husband, Ashiq, didn't often take the children with him when he visited her. Prison is not a place for children, but Asia's heart ached for her girls so last May she asked Ashiq to bring them. The girls were ecstatic. Although Isha and Isham's visit was brief, they were happy to see their mother. 'Mama loves us,' Isham told a VOM worker. 'When she saw me, she said, 'Oh, my daughter is growing up!' I was hoping to get a hug from my mama, but there were bars between us.'
Asia and her daughters were only able to touch the tips of their fingers together through the bars. As Ashiq and the girls were about to leave the prison, Isham told her mother, 'Come home soon.' The joy she had felt at seeing her mother melted into sadness at the thought of returning home - a place without her mother's special touch, daily encouragement and loving hugs.
Before her arrest, Asia Bibi worked picking berries for a farmer in Pakistan's Punjab province. One day when she brought water to her Muslim co-workers in the field, they refused to drink it, saying the cup had been contaminated by an infidel thief. The Muslims taunted Asia because of her Christian faith, saying that her prophet was born without a father. Asia responded, 'Our Christ sacrificed His life on the cross for our sins. What has your prophet done for you? Our Christ is alive, your prophet is dead. Our Christ is the true prophet of God, and yours is not true.'
Asia's co-workers reported her 'blasphemous' words to the village Muslim religious leaders. Five days later, several mullahs and local Islamists forced Asia from her workplace and took her by motorbike to the village centre. She was beaten by a crowd that had gathered there, and was not allowed to defend herself against the blasphemy accusations made against her. Several villagers came to her defence, but the Islamists threatened to beat them too if they did not leave. Asia was arrested and taken to jail. Her guards told her that if she would convert to Islam, they would let her go. She refused, telling them, 'You can kill me, but I will not leave my Jesus.'
Seventeen months after Asia's arrest, she was convicted of violating subsection C of Pakistan's 295 blasphemy law - blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed - and was sentenced to death. She is the first Pakistani woman to receive a death sentence under the law. No Christian in Pakistan has ever been executed under the blasphemy law, but in several cases, extremists have murdered Christians after their release from prison.
