Man begs Spain to give wife asylum
2012-12-13 21:45
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Madrid - The husband of a Pakistani Christian woman
sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad appealed to
Spain on Thursday to help free her and grant her asylum.
Asiq Mashi met with Spain's Junior Foreign Minister
Gonzalo de Benito in Madrid and spoke to journalists afterwards alongside
Mashi's daughter Sidra, 19, one of his and Bibi's five children.
"We are very happy and have great faith that this
country will help free my wife," Mashi said via an interpreter.
He said the family had received threats since Bibi was
sentenced to death in November 2010 after women claimed she insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
Bibi is currently in jail pending an appeal.
"She is protected in prison and they are treating
her well, but she is having a hard time because she is very far from her family
and is suffering psychologically," Mashi said.
"We live in hiding in Pakistan and we are very afraid.
They say we have blasphemed against [Prophet] Mohammed and that they are going
to kill us," he added.
Mashi appeared alongside representatives of Hazte Oir, a
right-wing Spanish Catholic campaign group that organised his visit.
The group's president Ignacio Arsuaga added that the
ministry said: "it is quite prepared to grant asylum as soon as Asia Bibi
herself requests it" and was always willing to help in her defence.
Bibi's sentencing in 2010 sparked an international
outcry.
