Regular readers of the magazine will not have forgotten the plight of Asia Bibi, the Christian Pakistani woman who has been imprisoned in solitary confinement for the last seven years for the supposed crime of blasphemy. Tomorrow the Supreme Court of Pakistan will hear the final appeal in the case: it may, if there is any justice in Pakistan, order her acquittal and release; but it may also allow her hanging to go ahead. We must hope and pray that she is spared.
The case illuminates not just the cruel and unjust treatment that has been the lot of Asia Bibi, but also shows us just what is wrong with Pakistan.
