Husband Ashiq and their daughter on European campaign, visiting Rome, Madrid, Paris and Berlin. Asia asks the Pope for a special blessing.
“When you kiss the hand of the Pope, do it also for me. That will be my kiss. And ask him to bless us.” With these words, Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian mother condemned to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, approved the journey that her husband Ashiq Masih and one of their daughters will embark upon next week towards Europe, in the hopes of raising support to overturn the sentence.
The pair is accompanied by Joseph Nadeem, an educator and head of the “Renaissance Education Foundation” in Lahore, which has taken in and provides education for Asia’s children. It will be a campaign to raise the awareness of governments, institutions, and citizens in Europe about the fight for the cause of an innocent woman and ask the international community to press for her release.
Sponsored by the Spanish Catholic organisation HazteOir, if all goes to plan the tour will take them first to Rome, from 13th to 15th April. The group will then visit Madrid, Paris, Berlin, and then Brussels if possible. A key appointment on the agenda is that at the Vatican and a personal meeting with Pope Francis during the general audience on 15th April.
The day before, Vatican Insider has learned, the Association of Christian Pakistanis in Italy has negotiated for the Pakistani delegation to meet with institutional representatives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Parliament.
Then in the afternoon of 14th April, at the Hotel Columbus in Rome, they will attend the premier screening of a documentary about the story of Asia Bibi, made after Ignacio Arsuaga, director of HazteOir, travelled to Pakistan.
Joseph Nadheem, when asked by Vatican Insider, confirmed the imminent trip and said: “We have just been to the prison of Multan to inform Asia that we will soon depart. She supported us, hoping that the trip will help her cause. She told us to kiss the hand of the Pope on her behalf and to ask him to bless us.” “She is well and lives in her prison with faith”, he added.
“When I met her for the first time in her prison five years ago, Asia asked me through the tears to take care of her family. Since that day Asia’s family have been my family. Her children study thanks to the Foundation and Ashiq works as a janitor at the school where we provide education for 350 children in Lahore”, he told Vatican Insider.
“The Foundation has been active since 1996. Our goal was to guarantee education for the children of poor Christian families in Lahore. Since then, our work has gradually expanded. The Foundation aims to build an education network in Pakistan, and is supported by a team of young professionals and pedagogists”. Guiding them through school is Sister Nasreen Catherine, who coordinates their didactic activity.
The case of Asia Bibi has somewhat shaken the group. Nadeem and his foundation have strived, not without difficulty and set-backs, to provide legal assistance for the woman. “But over the years news of the case has spread around the world and it has become a symbol: but because of its importance, things are more complicated, given the pressure from Islamist extremists on civil institutions, politics, and the judiciary”, explains Nadeem.
For Asia, it is the start of another legal ordeal. After receiving the death sentence, confirmed by the verdict of the appeal in October 2014, the defence has made a last possible appeal to the Supreme Court. The new trial is approaching: at the end of April the highest judicial body in the country will set the date for the first hearing.
The team of lawyers chosen by the Foundation is lead by a professional of Muslim faith, showing that in Pakistan there are those who believe in rights and justice, beyond religious belief. The man is Saif ul-Malook, who has been a lawyer in Punjab and worked on the case of the governor Salmaan Taseer, killed because he had dared to defend Asia Bibi, along with the Christian minister of minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti. Supporting Malook is a group of Christian legal professionals, such as the lawyer and minister of Punjab, Khalil Tahir Sindhu.
The trip for Asia’s family is drawing near too. The European governments may be able to operate on a diplomatic level, out of the spotlight of the media, to find a way to get Asia Bibi to safety.
