So you think you can stone her and spit in her eye?

Activists presented a petition on Tuesday to the United Nations Human Rights Council calling on Pakistan to free a Christian mother of five from being put to death on the charge of blasphemy. A Pakistani court found Asia Bibi guilty of defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed during a 2009 argument with Muslim fellow field workers. The offence is punishable by death or life imprisonment, according to Pakistan's penal code, and Bibi was sentenced to hang. But an investigation by a Pakistani government ministry found the charges stemmed from religious and personal enmity and recommended Bibi's release. It's about time too, because with Pakistan now running for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, the government should make an important gesture by releasing Asia Bibi, and repealing its blasphemy law, which is inconsistent with basic human rights and is only there to justify persecution of religious minorities. In other news, Pyongyang plans to launch an "Earth observation" satellite using a carrier rocket next month.