Christian mother who expressed faith in Jesus living in 'hell hole' Pakistani prison

A member of the Pakistani Christian community holds a cross as he chants slogans in front of a fire during a protest rally to condemn Sunday's suicide attack in Peshawar on a church, with others in Lahore September 23, 2013. A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the 130-year-old Anglican church in Pakistan after Sunday mass, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country.

More than a thousand Pakistani Christians and church leaders in Lahore gathered outside of Punjab's legislative assembly on Wednesday to demand that the province's legislature throw out a proposed amendment that they beleive is designed to strip voting rights from religious minorities, women and workers in local elections.

According to UCA News, the proposed amendment would alter the electoral system so that women, religious minorities, and workers would not be able to vote for their representatives in their municipal councils.

Instead of voting for their own representatives who are legally allotted to their respective social classes, the amendment would give council members from the majority party the right to select the council's two female members, a non-Muslim member and representatives for workers and youth.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/pakistani-christians-protest-amendment-to-deny-voting-rights-147324/#gMuBWscM8CGjH2Cl.99

A Christian mother, who had been locked up on death row six years ago for expressing her faith in Jesus, is reportedly living in a hell hole in Pakistani jail, The Christian Post reported.

In 2009, Asia Bibi reportedly got into an argument with a group of Muslim women who chase her away from a well because she allegedly "polluted" the water for being a Christian who is forbidden from drawing water from their well. She responded by saying: "My Christ died for me, what did Muhammed do for you?" Her remarks led to an altercation that eventually led to her imprisonment. Now, she is considered as the most famous prisoner in Pakistan today.

The Mission Network News (MNN) said that Bibi, despite being a woman and a mother, has been languishing in a prison block where ventilation and sanitation are major concerns given that there are only six toilets to share with for the close to 150 detainees in the poorly maintained Multan Jail.A member of the Pakistani Christian community holds a cross as he chants slogans in front of a fire during a protest rally to condemn Sunday's suicide attack in Peshawar on a church, with others in Lahore September 23, 2013. A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the 130-year-old Anglican church in Pakistan after Sunday mass, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country.

Bibi also shares the block with 42 murderers, 30 drug addicts, 21 robbers, 12 kidnappers and other criminals, MNN said, citing sources close to the ALIVE network of churches.

More than a thousand Pakistani Christians and church leaders in Lahore gathered outside of Punjab's legislative assembly on Wednesday to demand that the province's legislature throw out a proposed amendment that they beleive is designed to strip voting rights from religious minorities, women and workers in local elections.

According to UCA News, the proposed amendment would alter the electoral system so that women, religious minorities, and workers would not be able to vote for their representatives in their municipal councils.

Instead of voting for their own representatives who are legally allotted to their respective social classes, the amendment would give council members from the majority party the right to select the council's two female members, a non-Muslim member and representatives for workers and youth.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/pakistani-christians-protest-amendment-to-deny-voting-rights-147324/#gMuBWscM8CGjH2Cl.99

"Multan's summers are extremely hot," said a former prisoner, according to CP. "Combine this with overcrowding, poor sanitation, heating, lighting, and ventilation in the jail, and you realise the hell hole where Asia's single cell is located."

MNN reported that Bibi has also been bombarded with constant pressure from officials and even fellow prisoners to embrace Islam.

"She is surrounded by constant Islamic prayer, with officials necessitating prisoners to sit before the Quran for hours and read the Islamic holy text. They have been told that if they praise Allah and ask for forgiveness, their sentence will be reduced,'' CP reported.

"It is not just the sound of the five times of prayer that Asia is surrounded by. Every waking hour she hears the wailing of broken and often mentally-disturbed women mixed with the sound of the Quran being read out loud. Prison is no quiet place," the report said.

Despite her deplorable situation and much prodding from those on the inside, the mother of five has reportedly kept her faith intact.

Pakistan's Supreme Court has yet to decide on Bibi's fate. Last July, her death sentence was temporarily suspended following massive campaigning by Christian and human rights groups, according to the Christian Post.

"There is hope that she might be freed,'' Wilson Chowdhry, president of the British Pakistani Christian Association, has told CP, adding this would be a "watershed moment" for all Christians falsely accused of blasphemy."

"This could be a watershed moment as never before has a Christian blasphemy law victim had to appeal to the Supreme High Court. The majority are released at High Court," Chowdhry said.

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