ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The judge set to preside over a Pakistani mother’s last appeal against her death sentence suddenly resigned from his position in late October, according to The Christian Post.
His resignation highlights the rise in hatred against Christians, according to a Pakistani Christian group, and highlights the uncertainty of the future of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five sentenced to death on blasphemy accusations in 2010.
The judge gave no specific reason. A justice, Iqbal Hameed, also had recused himself from the case earlier in October.
“Mr. Hameed did not want to face the outright condemnation that people in the West would have for his sentencing of Asia Bibi to death by hanging,” Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, wrote on the group’s website.
The judge’s resignation “illustrates the power of extremists who are the real authority in Pakistan,” Chowdhry added, alluding to demands by Islamist groups for Bibi’s execution.
She was sentenced to death after two colleagues accused her of insulting the Muslim prophet Muhammad. (TAB)
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