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Glad to live where I do...

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:31 pm
by 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....

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:45 pm
by 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.)

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:41 pm
by CDN_Merlin
Stupid laws for stupid people. We should erradicate these morons.

Re:

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:42 pm
by null0010
CDN_Merlin wrote: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!

Re:

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:47 pm
by Will Robinson
null0010 wrote:
CDN_Merlin wrote: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!

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:50 pm
by null0010
It solves the problem therefore it must be morally correct. Might makes right and all that rot.

Re:

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:16 pm
by Foil
null0010 wrote: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:
Asia Bibi wrote:"...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.

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:22 pm
by null0010
Do you really think I'm defending this?

Re:

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:36 pm
by Foil
null0010 wrote: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).

Re:

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:41 pm
by Will Robinson
Foil wrote:...
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.

Re:

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 4:31 pm
by null0010
Foil wrote: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.

Re:

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 5:14 pm
by Foil
null0010 wrote: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.