Cairo police clash with Christian rioters, 1 dead

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian security official says Christians smashed cars and windows in protests over a halt in construction of a church in Cairo and then clashed with police, leaving one person dead.

The official said the person killed Wednesday was one of the Christian protesters, but did not say how the person died. Also, 25 people were injured and 85 arrested, the official says.

Rioting erupted outside a municipal building in the Cairo suburb of Giza, near the famed pyramids, after authorities halted construction on a church claiming the local Christian community had violated a building permit.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to speak to the media.

Egypt’s Christian minority frequently complains of discrimination.

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Amnesty urges release of Pakistani Christian woman

ISLAMABAD (AP) — An international human rights advocate has joined calls for the release of a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death under the country’s blasphemy laws.

Amnesty International on Friday also called on Pakistan to revise the law under which mother of five Asia Bibi was convicted this month.

The case stems from a dispute between Bibi and a group of Muslim women over the use of a water bowl. The other women accused her of making derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad. She has been in prison for one-and-a-half years and her case has been appealed.

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday urged Pakistan to release Bibi.

The case has drawn attention to blasphemy laws, which critics say are used to persecute Christian and other minorities.

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