Asia Bibi, the Christian mother sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy, today had her final appeal postponed after years of languishing on death row.
The three pastors and three church members were arrested on 6 October in the town of Wad Medani when they refused to hand over a school run by their evangelical church
Asia Bibi, the Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, will on Thursday face her final appeal. It was announced over the weekend that the date has been set for October 13, after years of postponement.
China already has in place a number of draconian laws on religion that systematically repress the liberty of its citizens, and the proposed new laws could see the climate for Christians and other minorities significantly worsen.
Tilmann Geseke, Uğur Yüksel and Necati Aydın were bound together, tortured and then had their throats slit in the office of the Zirve Publishing House in Malatya, southeastern Turkey, on Easter Sunday in 2007.
The moderator of the Church of Scotland has voiced his support for persecuted Christians in Pakistan and written to the UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson, asking him to put pressure on Pakistani authorities to stop the abuse.