Senator Rand Paul has been speaking out about the persecution of Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi for years — but with an increased urgency, he is now calling for President Donald Trump to grant her asylum.
Additionally — Senator Paul is urging other lawmakers to stand with him in demanding that “not one penny” of aid goes to Pakistan until Bibi is granted her freedom.
“Until Asia Bibi is freed, Pakistan should not receive a penny of U.S. aid! Not one penny should go to any nation that persecutes or kills Christians!” Senator Paul demanded in a must-read op-ed for Breitbart.
Bibi was arrested in 2010, when two Muslim women accused her of blasphemy. After being brutally beaten in the streets, she was told that she would need to convert to Islam if she wanted to live. She refused — and was put in jail and sentenced to death.
“She says it all began when she drew water from a Muslim villager’s well. A few days after the initial incident, where she made the statement mentioned above, she was confronted by a crowd chanting, ‘Death! Death to the Christian!’ She pleaded for her life. She was pelted with stones, punched in the face, and dragged through the streets. The local Imam finally intervened only to say, ‘If you don’t want to die, you must convert to Islam.’ The crowd descended on her again, beating her with sticks. She refused,” Senator Paul wrote.
Last month, Bibi was acquitted — but she is not safe. Islamic radicals have been protesting her release, calling for her death and the death of the Supreme Court judges who freed her.
“Amid protests in Pakistan from the extremist TLP party, the government has now refused to let her leave the country, putting her on their no-fly list. The protests and threats continue. It is only a matter of time before she is killed,” Senator Paul wrote.
Bibi is said to be in a secret location in Islamabad that is being protected by armed guards.
Thousands of Pakistanis protested against her release this month.
Senator Paul has been in contact with President Trump about the issue, asking him to personally intervene and urge the Pakistani government to release Bibi to the United States.
Additionally, Senator Paul blasted his peers in senate for rejecting his 2014 push to stop foreign aid to any country that gives the death penalty or life in prison to Christians for religious choices.
“Both Republicans and Democrats voted overwhelmingly to continue funding countries that persecute Christians. The committee voted 16-2 to keep sending aid to such countries,” Senator Paul noted.
The passionate op-ed argued that if the American people were the ones voting, they would have overwhelmingly supported his legislation. He explained that President Trump has a chance to correct the situation, while also sticking it to “the D.C. foreign policy swamp that loves foreign aid more than nearly anything else.”
“Asia Bibi deserves asylum in the United States. She deserves real freedom. And Americans deserve to know their tax dollars aren’t being sent to subsidize a country’s war on Christianity,” Senator Paul concluded.
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