Asia Bibi bravely tells her shocking and inspiring story from the prison cell where she resides today awaiting the result of her appeal against the death sentence she was given in 2009. On June 14 of that year, this Pakistani mother of five was picking fruit in the fields when at midday she went to the nearest well, picked up a cup, and took a drink of cool water. She then offered it to another woman and suddenly, one of her fellow workers cried out "Blasphemy!" The water belonged to Muslim women, she said, and Bibi, who is Christian, had contaminated it. In Pakistan, this is a crime punishable by death, and in that instant Bibi’s fate was sealed and her nightmare began. She was first attacked by a mob, then thrown into prison and sentenced to be hanged. Since that day she has been held in appalling conditions, her family members have had to flee their village under threat from vengeful extremists, and the two brave public figures who came to Bibi’s defense—the Muslim governor of the Punjab and Pakistan’s Christian Minister for Minorities—have been brutally murdered. Her story about a simple, everyday act that becomes life-changing is unfortunately common in some parts of the world. She has become a symbol for anyone concerned with ending the acts of violence that are committed in the name of religion and for women that are unjustly persecuted. It is as much a story about basic human rights as about Islamic extremism and current events. Bibi’s family was forced into hiding, and royalties from the sales of this book will go back to them, providing them a much-needed income.
