BACKGROUND
Aasiya Noreen was born and raised in Ittan Wali, a small, rural village in the
Sheikhupura District of Punjab, Pakistan, thirty miles outside of Lahore. Noreen, who is a Roman Catholic, worked as a farmhand in Sheikhupura to support her family. She married Ashiq Masih, a brick laborer who had three children from a previous marriage, and had two more children with him. Noreen and her family were the only Christians in the village. Before her incarceration, she had been repeatedly urged by her fellow workers to convert to Islam.


In June 2009, Noreen was harvesting falsa berries with a group of other women farmhands in a field in Sheikhupura. She was asked at one point to fetch water from a nearby well; she complied but stopped to take a drink with an old metal cup she had found lying next to the well. A neighbor of Noreen, Musarat, who had been involved in a running feud with Noreen's family about some property damage, saw her and angrily told her that it was forbidden for a Christian to drink water from the same utensil from which Muslims drink, and that some of the other workers considered her to be unclean because she was a Christian, referring to the caste system in Pakistan. Noreen recounted that Musarat said to her: "That’s right, you’re just a filthy Christian! You’ve contaminated our water and now you dare speak for the Prophet! Stupid bitch, your Jesus didn’t even have a proper father, he was a bastard, don’t you know that?" Noreen recounts that when they made derogatory statements about Christianity and demanded that she convert to Islam, she responded, "I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save mankind? And why should it be me that converts instead of you?" An argument ensued.

Prosecution and Imprisonment
Noreen denied that she had committed blasphemy and said that she had been accused by her neighbor to "settle an old score". In November 2010, Muhammed Naveed Iqbal, a judge at the court of Sheikhupura, Punjab , sentenced her to death by hanging. Additionally, a fine of the equivalent of $1,100 was imposed.
With the verdict, she became the first woman condemned to death in Pakistan on blasphemy charges.

Appeals
On 16 October 2014, the Lahore High Court dismissed Noreen's appeal and upheld her death sentence. On 20 November 2014, her husband appealed to the President of Pakistan for clemency. On 24 November 2014, her lawyer appealed to the Supreme Court.
On 22 July 2015, the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended Bibi's death sentence for the duration of the appeals process.

Supreme Court Acquittal
On 31 October 2018, the Supreme Court in a 56-page detailed judgement authored by CJP Nisar, with a separate concurrent opinion note from Justice Khosa, acquitted Asia Bibi of blasphemy charges after accepting her 2015 appeal against her sentence. The court also ruled that "she was free to go, if not wanted in connection with any other case". In his verdict, Judge Asif Saeed Khan Khosa noted:

The statements made by Muhammad Idrees (CW1) and Muhammad Amin Bukhari, SP (Investigation) (PW6) before the trial court revealed that the alleged blasphemy had been committed by the Christian appellant after her Muslim co-workers had insulted the appellant’s religion and had injured her religious sensibilities only because she believed in and was a follower of Jesus Christ. According to the Holy Qur’an a Muslim’s faith is not complete till he believes in all the Holy Prophets and Messengers of Almighty Allah including Jesus Christ (Isa son of Maryam) (Peace Be Upon Him) and all the revealed Holy Books of Almighty Allah including the Holy Bible. From that perspective insulting the appellant’s religion by her Muslim co-workers was no less blasphemous. — Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi_blasphemy_case

The final judgment said that one of Noreen's accusers violated the Ashtiname of Muhammad , a "covenant made by Muhammad with Christians in the seventh century but still valid today". Judge Khosa also stated that the two women who made accusations against Noreen “had no regard for the truth” and that the claim that she blasphemed Muhammad in public was a “concoction incarnate”. The Supreme Court of Pakistan's ruling cited “material contradictions and inconsistent statements of the witnesses” that “cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution’s version of facts.”

Response

Asia Noreen was reading the Christian Bible when she heard the news, upon which exclaimed "I can't believe what I am hearing, will I go out now? Will they let me out, really? ... I just don't know what to say, I am very happy, I can't believe it." Noreen's daughter Eisham Ashiq, said that the news of the acquittal was “the most wonderful moment in my life ... I want to hug my mother and then celebrate with my family. I am grateful to God for listening to our prayers.”

International Response

UNITED NATIONS: UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said that the United Nations "welcome[s] the decision of Pakistan’s Supreme Court".
UNITED KINGDOM: Theresa May, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, stated that "the news would be welcomed around the world, and the UK was committed to the global abolition of the death penalty."
UNITED STATES: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Tenzin Dorjee lauded the ruling, saying “The case of Asia Bibi illustrates the extent to which blasphemy laws can be exploited to target minority communities. These laws seek to protect entire religions rather than the individual, as should be the case under international human rights standards. It is deeply troubling that Bibi’s case even reached this level, where she almost became the first person in Pakistan’s history to be executed for the crime of blasphemy.”
FRANCE: Marine Le Pen , president of the
National Rally in France called on her government to grant Asia Noreen asylum.
The European Centre for Law and Justice lauded the ruling as well, and advocated the "abolition of the crime of blasphemy in Pakistan". Several countries including France and Spain have offered Asia Noreen asylum.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi_blasphemy_case

This is hot. This case has been ongoing since 2009 and has been a source of international attention and discourse. Thanks to all the various Christian organisations and persons who have been on Asia Noreen Bibi's case for their prayers and practical underground efforts. It paid off!

Lalasticlala Mynd44

Ishilove, Olaadegbu, ScienceWatch, Butterflyleo, Godsmopol, have you guys been following this blasphemy case?

I thank God for the deliverance gotten by this woman!

Daviddson:


This is hot. This case has been ongoing since 2009 and has been a source of international attention and discourse. Thanks to all the various Christian organisations and persons who have been on Asia Noreen Bibi's case for their prayers and practical underground efforts. It paid off!

Lalasticlala Mynd44

Ishilove, Olaadegbu, ScienceWatch, Butterflyleo, Godsmopol, have you guys been following this blasphemy case?

Yes. Glory be to God in the highest! See where and when I posted this breaking news --> https://www.nairaland.com/4821005/christian-mum-asia-bibi-freed

Glory be to God.
Let her leave her country and take up the offers of asylum.
good news.