A five-year court odyssey for a Pakistani Christian mother of five will continue after an appeals court in Lahore, Pakistan, on Oct. 16 upheld a death sentence for “blasphemy.” Asia Bibi, 45, has been imprisoned since 2009 while appealing her conviction. Accused by co-workers after a dispute over a communal water source, she was convicted under Pakistan’s infamous blasphemy laws. The Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, which defended Bibi, said it will submit a final appeal to Pakistan’s Supreme Court, noting this process “could last a number of years.” A statement from the group described the decision as biased, adding that the center’s team “is very much [disheartened] and we are worried about the other cases of blasphemy which are under proceeding in the different courts of Punjab.”

This article appears in November 3 2014.