*ISLAMABAD – Italy is one of the several countries seeking to help AasiaBibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who has spent eight years on death rowfor blasphemy, a rights group said on Wednesday.*
Several governments have said they want to help Aasia Bibi and “we’ll haveto see which government acts first,” Marta Petrosillo, spokeswoman for Aidto the Church in Need, which helps persecuted Christians worldwide, toldAFP.
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini tweeted on Tuesday: “I will doeverything humanly possible to guarantee this young woman’s future.”
She is still in a prison a week after the Supreme Court overturned herconviction.
The religious groups took to the streets soon after the top court announcedits verdict. The sit-ins across the country ended on November 2 after thegovernment agreed to initiate legal proceedings to place Bibi’s name on theECL.
Her husband Ashiq Masih has said the delay in releasing his wife, a motherof five, was adding to the family’s agony.
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Italian Catholic association ACS said that Masih had specifically appealedto Italy for help to leave Pakistan.
“We are very worried because our lives are in danger. We don’t even haveanything left to eat because we can’t go out to do the shopping,” Masihsaid, according to an Italian translation of a video posted on theassociation’s website.
Masih has also appealed for Britain or the United States to grant thefamily asylum, while her lawyer has fled to the Netherlands.
France’s junior minister for Gender Equality Marlene Schiappa said onWednesday she was looking at how to help Bibi “along with European andinternational partners”. – APP/AFP
