World

Fearing ‘Unrest,’ UK Reportedly Denies Asylum To Christian Woman Asia Bibi

(LEFT: REUTERS/Adrees Latif/File Photo RIGHT: JeniFoto/Shutterstock)

Jon Brown Associate Editor
Font Size:

The U.K. is denying asylum to an endangered Pakistani Christian woman because they fear attacks on their embassies and unrest in their own country, according to reports.

The lack of asylum has drawn denunciations from some members of Parliament, including Boris Johnson MP, who wrote that the U.K. “cannot allow the threat of violence to deter us from doing the right thing.” (RELATED: Boris Johnson Faces Investigation For Criticizing Women Who Wear Burkas)

In 2009, Asia Bibi was thrown into prison for allegedly insulting the prophet of Islam during an argument with local women from her rural village outside Lahore, Pakistan.

Bibi recounted that one day while she and the other women were out picking berries, they told her to go fetch them water, and she obliged. When Bibi returned and drank the water herself, they refused to drink after her, claiming that her faith had made the cup “unclean.”

Asia Bibi/YouTube screenshot

Asia Bibi/YouTube screenshot

Bibi said that the women then began hurling curses at her, insulting Jesus and pressing her to convert. A Roman Catholic, Bibi’s family was the only Christian one in her village. Christians make up less than two percent of the Pakistani population, according to the Library of Congress.

“I’m not going to convert,” Bibi replied to them. “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?”

Days later, she was brutally beaten by villagers, who hauled her before the village cleric. He likewise demanded she convert or die. Still refusing, Bibi was taken to prison in Lahore, where she languished in a windowless cell for nearly a decade, awaiting a death sentence.

Through that time, Bibi’s case remained a continual source of controversy in Pakistan. Two government officials who defended Bibi and called for reformation of the nation’s harsh blasphemy law were publicly assassinated.

Last month, the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted Bibi of her alleged crime. Nevertheless, protests have riled the country in response, shutting portions of it down. In a deal to quell the protests, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has agreed to issue a travel ban on Bibi and to allow an appeal of her acquittal.

Bibi’s defense lawyer has since fled to the Netherlands, and Bibi herself reportedly remains at an undisclosed location in Pakistan, fearing for her life. Bibi’s husband recently begged President Donald Trump and other Western leaders to offer asylum to his family.

Wilson Chowdhry, head of the British Pakistani Christian Association which has been campaigning for Bibi, claimed to The Daily Telegraph that, while the British government desires to help, they will not offer asylum because it is “concerned about potential unrest in the country, attacks on embassies and civilians.”

“They have not offered automatic asylum, whereas several countries have now come forward,” Chowdhry explained. “They won’t be coming to Britain. The family will definitely not be coming to Britain.”

Chowdhry said it is “an enduring shame that a country with such a lauded history of helping refugees and asylum seekers, that when the Asia Bibi case has come before them, they haven’t been as generous as they have for many victims in the past.”

“It does seem to me that Britain is now a country that is unsafe for those who may be tarred with an allegation of blasphemy,” Chowdhry warned. “We are very aware that there are extremist elements in this country.” (RELATED: Imprisoned British Activist Fears Muslims Will Kill Him For His Immigration Stance)

Supporters of the Pakistani religious Islamist group Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) gather during a protest rally against the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was charged with blasphemy, in Karachi on November 8, 2018. - A Pakistani Christian woman who spent eight years on death row for blasphemy has been freed from jail after an acquittal that triggered Islamist protests, but is still in Pakistan, officials said on November 8 amid appeals for her to be offered asylum. (Photo by ASIF HASSAN / AFP)

Supporters of the Pakistani religious Islamist group Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) gather during a protest rally against the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was charged with blasphemy, in Karachi on November 8, 2018. – A Pakistani Christian woman who spent eight years on death row for blasphemy has been freed from jail after an acquittal that triggered Islamist protests, but is still in Pakistan, officials said on November 8 amid appeals for her to be offered asylum. (Photo by ASIF HASSAN / AFP)

The vast majority of foreign-born Muslim immigrants living in the U.K. are from Pakistan, according to the 2011 U.K. census. According to the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics (ONS), one in three Muslims was under age 15 in 2011, compared to the national average of one in five. By 2021, there are expected to be 300,000 Muslim teenagers in the U.K.

Follow Jon on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel