Glad to live where I do...

[Gooberman]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/1 ... tml?hpt=C1

Itan Wali, Pakistan (CNN) -- In this village in Pakistan's Punjab province a tearful 12-year-old girl ponders if the Pakistani government will soon hang her mother.

\"Whenever I see her picture I cry,\" Isham Masih told CNN. \"I want my mother back. That's what I'm praying for.\"

This month a Pakistani court sentenced Isham's mother, 45-year-old Asia Bibi, to death, not because she killed, injured or stole, but simply because she said something.

Prosecutors say Bibi, who is a Christian, broke Pakistan's strict blasphemy law by insulting Islam and the prophet Muhammad, a crime punishable by death or life imprisonment according to Pakistan's penal code.



Sentenced to death for blasphemy RELATED TOPICS
Pakistan
The alleged incident happened in June 2009 when Bibi, a field worker, was picking fruit in a village two hours west of Lahore. Prosecutors say when Bibi dipped her cup into a bucket of drinking water during a lunch break, her co-workers complained the water had been contaminated by a non-Muslim.

Court records show the women got into a heated argument.

Magia Satar said she was there and heard Bibi's insults.

\"She said your Muhammad had worms in his mouth before he died,\" Satar told CNN, a crude way of saying Muhammad was no prophet.


...

\"Yes, she should be hanged,\" a group of villagers cried out.

The town cleric, who made the initial complaint against Bibi, called her death sentence one of the happiest moments of his life.

\"Tears of joy poured from my eyes,\" Qari Salim told CNN.

I always try and put myself in anothers shoes....but my God....

[null0010]

One the one hand, this is incredibly barbaric and sick and it literally disgusts me.

On the other hand, that woman walked right into this and really doesn't have anyone to blame but herself. (Assuming, of course, that the law was common knowledge.)

[CDN_Merlin]

Stupid laws for stupid people. We should erradicate these morons.

[null0010]

Stupid laws for stupid people. We should erradicate these morons.

Those people are killing other people for silly reasons! Let's kill all of them!

[Will Robinson]

Stupid laws for stupid people. We should erradicate these morons.

Those people are killing other people for silly reasons! Let's kill all of them!

Lol!

[null0010]

It solves the problem therefore it must be morally correct. Might makes right and all that rot.

[Foil]

On the other hand, that woman walked right into this and really doesn't have anyone to blame but herself. (Assuming, of course, that the law was common knowledge.)

Come on, Null. You're assuming far too much here.

For one, this Pakistani law has never been applied before, and the accounts of the incident are very clear that Ms. Bibi was alone against a large crowd in an area where religious tensions are very high.

Two, it's highly doubtful that the accusations are even true. Ms. Bibi was not even given the chance to defend herself in court:

"...I have not been asked even once for my statement in court. Not by the lawyers and not by the judge. After this, I have lost hope in any kind of justice being given to me."link

Do you really think this looks like a real application of law? I'm sorry, but I'd say it's quite clearly a Pakistani-style witch-hunt.

[null0010]

Do you really think I'm defending this?

[Foil]

Do you really think I'm defending this?

No, of course not. You said that you are disgusted by it, and I believe you.

I'm taking exception to your characterization of it as somehow Ms. Bibi's fault (i.e. your implication that she's suffering consequences due to correct enforcement of a known law).

[Will Robinson]

...
Two, it's highly doubtful that the accusations are even true. Ms. Bibi was not even given the chance to defend herself in court:....

I wonder if women are even allowed in court in some parts of that hell hole.

[null0010]

I'm taking exception to your characterization of it as somehow Ms. Bibi's fault (i.e. your implication that she's suffering consequences due to correct enforcement of a known law).

I had assumed that the law was a known quantity and it was known that violation of it would be punished, and if that were true, it would, in fact, be a tremendously stupid thing to do to violate this law, barbarity of it aside.

[Foil]

I had assumed that the law was a known quantity and it was known that violation of it would be punished, and if that were true, it would, in fact, be a tremendously stupid thing to do to violate this law, barbarity of it aside.

Exactly, and my point is that it's far too much to assume.

The law/consequences is anything but a 'known quantity', when one needs only to be accused to be convicted, and the punishment is at the whim of the religion in power.