ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s president will not immediately pardon a Christian woman sentenced to die for insulting Islam but may do so later if an appeals court delays her case too long, an official said Thursday.
The case against Asia Bibi has inflamed religious passions in Pakistan. Hard-line Muslims demonstrated again Thursday against any pardon for her, and minority Christians held their own protests calling for abolishment of the blasphemy law, which critics say is misused by some to settle personal scores and persecute minorities.
Bibi’s attorney said the 45-year-old mother of five drew the ire of fellow farmhands after a dispute in June 2009, when they refused to drink water she collected and she refused their demands that she convert to Islam.
