It all started over a glass of water, said Aasia Noreen, a Christian woman who spent years on death row after being accused of blasphemy. She was cleared of the charge on October 31, 2018. And her dismissal caused a civil discourse. But the glass was just an excuse, she told BBC in a video interview. They gave me the water and I drank it, I didn’t know their main reason for doing this, she said. “It never occurred to me.” Noreen related how she was accused of blasphemy for drinking the water and how people pulled her from the field she was working in to the police station. They had knives, pistols and hammers in their hands, she said, adding that she believed they wanted to kill her. Now living in Canada, she told the BBC that she hoped she would be able to return to Pakistan one day. Ms Bibi has released a memoir, Enfin Libre! (Finally Free), written with French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet. In it, she recounts her time in jail and her brutal treatment by guards. In one of the most disturbing incidents she recounts how she had her neck put in a brace that was tightened with a key, and was pulled about on a chain by guards. Pakistani authorities have dismissed the allegations, saying her claims of torture were “not plausible”. “I can’t breathe,” she writes. “My neck is compressed by a neck brace that the guard can tighten as much as he wants with a big key. A long chain drags on the dirty floor; it links my throat to the guard’s handcuffs that drags me like a dog.” Ms Bibi called on Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to free anyone unjustly accused or convicted of blasphemy and to ensure that the charges are investigated properly. “Innocents should not be punished for no reason and people who are innocent, in prison, should be freed,” she said. “During the investigation, both parties should be questioned properly because there are a lot of problems in our investigative procedures. And it is hard to tell who is on whose side.” Asia Bibi in the interview concluded as she was tearing up and said, “My country freed me. And I am proud of that.” To read more from ProperGaanda: Petition filed against Ali Zafar’s PSL theme song
