Pak SC stays 'blasphemy convict' Aasia Bibi's execution

Pakistan's Supreme Court has reportedly stayed the execution of blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi, admitting her petition for full hearing.

A three-member bench at the Supreme Court asked for all records pertaining to the case to be presented before it, reported the Dawn.

In her petition, the death row prisoner claimed that she had not made any blasphemous remarks and the allegations levelled against her by her neighbours were based on a personal feud. She urged the court to strike down her death sentence.

A high court in Lahore had upheld her death sentence last year.

She has been on death row since November 2010 after being convicted of making derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad during an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water.

Two high-profile politicians, the then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti, were killed in 2011 after they called for reforms in blasphemy laws and described Bibi's trial as 'flawed'.