Pakistan Supreme Court adjourns hearing of Asia Bibi blasphemy case

Islamabad [Pakistan], Oct.13 (ANI): Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned a hearing of the final appeal against the execution of blasphemy accused Asia Bibi. According to the Dwan, the apex court adjourned the hearing after Justice Iqbal Hamid-ur-Rehman, one of the judges on the three-member bench, recused himself on grounds that he also heard the Salman Taseer case. A letter has been written to the chief justice to appoint another judge to the bench, and as of now, it is unclear when the hearing will resume. Asia Bibi, accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) during an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 despite her advocates maintaining her innocence and insisting the accusers held grudges against her. The allegations against Bibi date back to June 2009, when she was labouring in a field and a row broke out with some Muslim women she was working with. She was asked to fetch water, but she objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the water bowl. The women went to a local cleric and accused Bibi of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), a charge punishable by death under legislation that rights groups say is routinely abused to settle personal vendettas. (ANI with inputs)