Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, acquitted in blasphemy case, arrives in Canada: Lawyer
A Pakistani Christian woman who spent eight years on death row over false blasphemy charges, Asia Bibi, has left the country, her lawyer and media said on Wednesday, more than six months after she was acquitted by Pakistan’s top court.
By : migrator
Update: 2019-05-08 07:28 GMT
Islamabad
The 47-year-old mother of four was convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting Islam in a row with her neighbours. She always maintained her innocence, but has spent most of the past eight years in solitary confinement.
"Aasia Bibi has left the country. She is a free person and travelled on her independent will," a source in the foreign office was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
Pakistani TV channels Geo and ARY, citing unidentified sources, also reported Bibi had left the country.
“I have inquired within available channels, and according to them she has left for Canada,” Bibi’s lawyer, Saif Ul Malook told Reuters.
He later confirmed that the woman has reached Canada, the Express Tribune reported.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
The Supreme Court had on October 31 last year acquitted her of blasphemy charges.
The judgement sparked rioting by hardline Islamists, who rejected the Supreme Court’s verdict and warned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government that she must not be allowed to leave the country.
They also called for Bibi, who has been staying at an undisclosed location under tight security, to be killed.
In November, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country was in talks with Pakistan about helping Bibi.
Bibi, a farm worker and a mother of four, was convicted in 2010 of making derogatory remarks about Islam after neighbours working in the fields with her objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim.
Her case has outraged Christians worldwide and been a source of division within Pakistan, where two politicians who sought to help her were assassinated, including Punjab province governor Salman Taseer, who was shot by his own bodyguard.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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