In early March in an interview with the BBC, Asia Bibi spoke of her time in prison saying she was told by guards she could be released if she renounced her faith in Christ.
However, Bibi told them: ‘No, I will live my sentence, with my faith’. She subsequently spent a decade in prison over allegations that she insulted Islam and its prophet. Bibi, whose real name is Aasiya Noreen, called her experience a ‘trial sent by God’.
One night in prison she had a dream about a priest who made her recite verses from the Bible. ‘When I opened my eyes, I remember being amazed that I no longer saw him. I thought that maybe God was sending me a sign that I should try to learn those verses which would help sustain me. So that’s what I did. I read the Gospels very regularly.’
Bibi said she always believed that one day she would be released, no matter how hard imprisonment was for her.
Bibi shared that her children’s future was ‘very badly affected’ by her imprisonment because they could no longer go to school.
‘It was so strange [when] I met my husband and kids after so long. I couldn’t understand my emotions,’ she told the BBC. ‘When I hugged my children, I cried. I kept thinking about their childhood. I can’t forget their childhood. When the past comes to mind, I can see my little daughters crying. That bit of past I haven’t been able to forget.’
