The story of a Texas schoolboy who removed the guts of an old alarm clock from its case, reconstructed the device in a suitcase and hauled it to school has become an international sensation.
Not surprisingly, school officials were alarmed at what appeared to be a bomb, called police and removed the boy from the campus. But activists screamed “Islamophobia,” and Ahmed “Clockboy” Mohamed became an instant celebrity, capped by Barack Obama’s invitation to the White House.
But now a commentator is calling out Obama for honoring Mohamed while refusing to even mention the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman under sentence of death in Pakistan for violating a Shariah-based blasphemy law.
“Where is the international outcry about this Christian woman’s suffering? About how she continues to suffer to this day because of this segregationist, racist bigotry. … Where is Obama, mentioning her name, inviting her to the White House? Why is Ahmed Mohamed on the front cover of every magazine?” Jamie Glazov asked.
“When will Asia Bibi be on the front cover of magazines?” he continued. “When will the honest truth about her be told?”
See the video:
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Glazov’s challenge came on his Web TV show “The Glazov Gang” in a segment in which he talked about the Christian mother of five “who is awaiting execution for loving Jesus.”
Glazov cited the brouhaha over what apparently was a stunt by Mohamed.
They boy “pulled out the insides of a clock … and put it into a briefcase.”
Glazov noted the contraption looked like a bomb, and witnesses said Mohamed was unwilling to talk about it and reassure officials and authorities. The 14-year-old was taken the the police station and immediately took to social media to publicize his case. School officials and police have insisted they made the right decision in view of what appeared to be a threat to the school. Nevertheless, Mohamed because an instant celebrity.
Meanwhile, Bibi was sentenced after being accused by Muslim women in Pakistan of taking a drink from a communal water cup, Glazov said.
“Obama’s not going to mention her name [and she won’t] find herself on the front page of magazines,” he said.
“This is a Christian that was working with Muslim women picking berries,” he explained. “She was thirsty. By a well [there was] a little metal cup.”
She took a drink, prompting other women to accuse her of breaking the nation’s blasphemy law, which finds its foundation in Islam’s Shariah.
“When will there be an honest investigation of the Islamic theology that has spawned her suffering?” he said.
“I, Jamie Glazov, say, ‘We support Asia Bibi, and we think about her every day.'”
WND recently reported a court in Pakistan refused to affirm that criticizing the nation’s Islamic anti-blasphemy law is itself illegal.
The blasphemy law – and even the discussion of its validity – has cost numerous lives in a nation where the accused often are killed by vigilantes before the court system can resolve their cases.
The decision from the Pakistan Supreme Court said “criticizing the country’s notoriously harsh blasphemy laws is not blasphemy,” according to the Barnabas Fund, an organization that serves persecuted Christians worldwide.
The report noted political figures in Pakistan’s recent history who opposed “or attempted to amend the blasphemy laws have been violently pressured into backtracking, and several have been killed.”
The new ruling came from one such case.
It was an appeal hearing for Mumtaz Qadri, a police commando who was sentenced to death for the assassination of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab when he was slain in January 2011.
Authorities reported Taseer was “shot dead for criticizing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws after he had visited Christian mother-of-five Asia Bibi, who has been falsely accused of insulting the name of Muhammad in 2009.”
The Barnabas Fund said a three-judge panel, led by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, maintained Qadri’s death sentence.
The entire appeal had been based on the claim Qadri’s murder of Taseer was justified “because he was convinced that Taseer had committed blasphemy when he criticized the blasphemy law, calling it a ‘black law.'”
Besides Taseer, Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bahatti also was gunned down in 2011 after he sought blasphemy law reform.
Bibi’s case dates back to 2009, when she was accused of blasphemy after simply discussing her Christian faith with co-workers.
According to Voice of the Martyrs: “On June 19, 2009 there was an intense discussion among the women about their faith. The Muslim women told Asia about Islam, and, according to VOM sources, Asia responded by telling the Muslim women that Jesus is alive. ‘Our Christ sacrificed His life on the cross for our sins. … Our Christ is alive,’ she told them. Upon hearing this response, the Muslim women became angry and began to beat Asia. Then some men took her and locked her in a room. They announced from mosque loudspeakers that she would be punished by having her face blackened and being paraded through the village on a donkey.”
Police filed blasphemy charges, explaining they were forced by pressure from Muslims.
After a lengthy trial, on Nov. 8, 2010, Bibi was sentenced to death by a judge. The judge also fined her $1,190 and told her she had seven days to appeal the decision.