Asia Bibi, a mother of two in her thirties, has lived a simple life, working as a field laborer in Pakistan.  However, now, she has gained unwanted notoriety by becoming the first woman in Pakistan to be sentenced to death for blasphemy.  The sentence  was decreed by a court of sessions in Punjab province on Sunday evening.

Her crime?  Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The charge stems from her actions in the village of Ittanwali during a heated discussion about religion in June last year.

Some of the women workers had been trying to get Bibi to renounce her Christian faith and accept Islam. During the discussion, Bibi responded by telling the Muslim women how Jesus had died on the cross for the sins of mankind and asking them what Muhammad had done for them.

The Muslim women got ticked off by Asia’s witnessing to them and beat her.  She was then locked in a room by some men.  Then, according to partners of Release International, a mob reportedly formed and “violently abused” her and her children.

Release International, a charity which supports persecuted Christians, said that blasphemy charges had been brought against Bibi as a result of pressure from local Muslim leaders.

Release International’s chief executive, Andy Dipper, was shocked at Sunday’s ruling.

He said:

Pakistan has crossed a line in passing the death sentence on a woman for blasphemy.

In addition to the death sentence, The representatives of the religion of peace also fined Bibi more than £700. That is approximately two and a half years’ wages for an unskilled worker.

The charity’s partners in Pakistan say the sentence has dealt a crushing blow to Bibi, who had been hoping to be acquitted and return to her husband and children:

Although Asia has great courage, her dreams of release have vanished now. Please pray for her encouragement, strength and protection.

They are planning to visit Bibi in prison as soon as they are permitted to.

Release has launched a petition against Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. It fears that the passing of the death sentence against Bibi could set a harmful precedent in other blasphemy cases.

Another Christian woman, Martha Bibi , no relation to Asia Bibi, is presently on trial in Lahore for blasphemy. She was accused of committing blasphemy after a dispute with builders in Kasur who refused to return equipment belonging to her.

Mr. Dipper said Pakistan’s blasphemy laws were “wide open to abuse” and that Christians and other minorities were often accused of committing blasphemy by Muslims as a “vengeful way of settling scores”.

Dipper warned:

In effect Asia has been sentenced to death for sharing her Christian faith. In previous cases, the death sentence has not been carried out. But this could well mean a life sentence for Asia in appalling conditions on death row.

Release’s online petition can be found at:  www.releaseinternational.org/current

There is a history of violence in pakistan by Muslims against Christians.  In June of 2009, A Christian man was beaten to death in Pakistan’s Punjab province for drinking from a tea-cup “designated for Muslims”.

August 1, 2009, the following story ran on christianpost.com:

Hundreds of Muslim extremists continued to burn Christian homes after some members of the Sipah-e-Sahaba group accused Christians of desecrating the Quran on Thursday. Among the six Christians killed were four women.

Pakistan Christian Post reported that the Muslim mob pulled the Christian woman out of their homes and killed them execution style.

The sectarian riot began Thursday when thousands of Muslims raided a Christian village called Korian in Punjab province in eastern Pakistan and destroyed about 60 homes and two churches.

From jihadwatch.org 12/17/2009:

A Christian sanitation worker was struggling for his life Wednesday, December 16, in a hospital of Pakistan’s Punjab province after two Christian co-workers already died because Muslim employers apparently poisoned them, police and family confirmed.

The father of the three workers, Yousaf Masih, said the incident happened Monday, December 14, in a banquet and wedding hall where his sons demanded wages owed to them.

Masih said the Muslim managers of the facility were angry that Christians dared to ask for payment.

“My sons were apparently forced to consume some kind of poisoned drink, or a drug…They were left there to die,” he said, adding that their bosses also made abusive remarks about Christianity.

These are only a few stories.  There are many more.  Like, for instance, Faisal, the Times Square Bomber,who grew up and trained to be a Terrorist in Pakistan.

On November 8th, United States President Barack Hussein Obama, while attempting to answer a student’s question at St. Xavier College in Mumbai, India, said that our approach toward Pakistan on the issue of terrorism has been

…to be honest and forthright … to say we are your friend, this is a problem and we will help you with, but the problem has to be addressed.

That’s wonderful speechifying there, Scooter.  But when Muslims in Pakistan are killing their own citizenry for the crime of being a Christian, how to you expect any help from that country in finding Bin Laden or with any other aspect of the Global War on Terror?  You may as well take a Cobra home as a pet and expect it not to bite you.

Obama, his administration, CAIR, and so-called Moderate Islamic representatives keep telling the American people about how the majority of Muslims are a peace-loving people.  I truly want to believe that.  However, they need to step up their efforts in speaking out about the murderers that share their faith.  For a faith with millions of members, the relative silence is deafening.