Canadian officials have deported a Pakistani woman living in Saskatchewan, who has been accused of adultery in her home country. Jamila Bibi says she fears for life, and her supporters warn she could be stoned to death once she is returned to Pakistan.
Bashir Khan, Bibi’s attorney, said his client was falsely accused and fled to Canada in 2007. Bibi reportedly broke into tears at the Saskatoon airport on Tuesday moments before boarding the plane en route to Pakistan.
“I can kill myself now,” she said after being arrested last Wednesday, September 10. “I haven’t done anything wrong, not stolen anything, I worked and now they are doing this,” said Bibi, according to court documents.
Khan stated the charges stem from a land dispute with her family, who falsely accused her of adultery as a way of taking out revenge.
The United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights intervened on Bibi’s behalf and requested the Canadian government not deport her until it had an opportunity to review her case.
“I know my life would be in danger if I am sent back, and I would rather to have peaceful death here than be killed for something that I did not do,” Bibi wrote in her letter to the United Nations.
Canadian officials, nevertheless, deported Bibi back to Pakistan on Tuesday.
Amnesty International also asked the Canadian government to reconsider the deportation, arguing the UN body should have been allowed to finish its investigation before any final decision was made.
“There’s no way that Canada would want to be responsible for returning a woman back to a country where her rights could be violated,” Gloria Nafziger, an Amnesty International refugee coordinator, told CTV.
Source: CTVNews.