The scholarships will provide full tuition fees to the student's chosen course over four years and be awarded to those who write an essay based on the theme of "the sanctity of human life". Continue reading

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney and the Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, issued a joint statement on February 8.

The religious leaders said they respected Indonesia's laws, but believe Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are reformed men who deserve another chance.

The leaders' statement has been sent to the men's families and the Australian and Indonesian governments.

But Indonesia's ambassador to Australia all but dashed any hopes of a last minute reprieve for the Bali Nine ringleaders, saying their legal options to escape the death penalty are exhausted.

Chan and Sukumaran face execution this month over their role in a failed attempt to export 8.2 kilograms of heroin to Australia in 2005.

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Fr Guyo Wago Malley and four other men were sentenced over the murder of Bishop Luigi Locati of Isiolo in 2005.

The execution was stayed last week to give the men an opportunity to file an appeal within 14 days.

The bishop was gunned down as he walked into his house in 2005.

Judge Fred Ochieng said Fr Malley planned, financed and recruited people to kill the bishop.

The judge said Fr Malley had spent KSH50,000 to fund the purchase of a G3 rifle.

He had transported the killers and hidden them in his house.

Fr Malley told the court the money he had withdrawn was for the purchase of desks.

Earlier, the police officer who investigated the case told the court of tensions between the bishop and priest over control of church funds.

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Last week, the Lahore High Court upheld the sentence handed down in 2010 against Asia Bibi.

She is the first Christian woman ever to be given the death sentence in Pakistan.

One source expressed hope that the sentence would be overturned in the Supreme Court, which has reportedly never upheld a blasphemy charge.

Mrs Bibi, 50, was first arrested in 2009 in a village near Lahore, after colleagues claimed she had insulted the Prophet Mohammad.

This stemmed out of an argument she had with two other women in a fruit field over a drinking glass.

High profile Pakistani politicians Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti spoke up in her defence and were subsequently assassinated in 2011.

Taseer was killed by his own security guard and Bhatti by the Pakistani Taliban.

Mrs Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, said Muslim clerics attending the Lahore hearing had shouted out "blasphemer" and "kill her".

"I have not told my children about the court decision. How can I? I am too scared of their reaction - they are already very depressed. We all were expecting her to come home and now this happens," said Mr Masih.

A statement from the Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation, a Catholic group named for a critic of Pakistan's blasphemy law, expressed disappointment in the ruling.

"We remain optimistic that the rule of law will prevail and justice will be done (when the appeal is heard in the Supreme Court). For now that is our only hope," said the statement by the Catholic advocacy group.

However, advocates for Mrs Bibi expressed fears that even if she is freed by the Supreme Court, extremists will be given tacit encouragement to pursue and kill her.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Christian Today
• Christian Today
• Image: Catholic Herald

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim was last month sentenced to death after refusing to renounce her faith.

Mrs Ibrahim was raised as an Orthodox Christian by her mother, but her absent father was Muslim.

The Public Order Court in El Haj Yousif, Khartoum, ruled that she was a Muslim.

Under Sharia law, her marriage to a Christian was invalid, so she could be accused of apostasy and adultery, the court decided.

Lawyers have lodged an appeal against her conviction.

She will receive 100 lashes before she is executed.

The baby girl is Mrs Ibrahim's second child.

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