Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Global Human Rights, issued the following statement on Wednesday:

“I welcome the news of Asia Bibi arriving safely in Canada to reunite with her family; she deserves to live a life without fear after experiencing a harrowing ordeal of a false blasphemy conviction, prison, death row, and death threats.  After so much international attention on this case, Pakistan’s Supreme Court should be commended for overturning Asia Bibi’s baseless death sentence, but there are at least 40 Christians, Ahmadis and other religious minorities on death row or serving life sentences on blasphemy charges right now.

The sad fact is that Asia Bibi’s ordeal continues to be the reality for many members of Pakistan’s religious minorities.  They endure daily persecution and threats that shock the conscience and are the reason why Pakistan was placed on the State Department’s blacklist as one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.   The U.S. must strongly oppose religious persecution and push for the overturning of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws which are wielded as a weapon against religious minorities.