PublishedVirago Press, October 2012 |
ISBN9781844088881 |
FormatSoftcover, 160 pages |
Dimensions21.4cm × 13.6cm × 1.7cm |
Punjab, Pakistan, June 2009. After picking fruit for several hours, Asia goes to the nearest well, picks up a cup and takes a long drink of cool water. She refills the cup, drinks some more and then offers it to another woman. Suddenly one of her fellow workers cries out that the water belongs to the Muslim women and that with her actions, Asia - who is Christian - has contaminated it. 'Blasphemy!' someone shouts.
In Pakistan this is a charge punishable by death. First attacked by a mob, Asia was soon after thrown into prison and then sentenced to be hanged. Since then she has been kept in a windowless cell. Her family have had to flee their village, under threat from vengeful extremists. Here, Asia, bravely speaks to us from her prison cell.
