ISLAMABAD (AP) - A Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan has left for Canada to be reunited with her daughters, Pakistani media and a friend close to her said Wednesday.

Wilson Chawdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association told The Associated Press Wednesday that he received a text message from a British diplomat saying "Aasia is out." A close friend of Bibi also confirmed that she had left the country, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2009 after a quarrel with a fellow farmworker. She spent eight years on death row until the Supreme Court last year overturned her conviction. She has since been in protective custody.

Islamic extremists have rioted over the case and threatened to kill her. The same radical Islamists, many of whom have been jailed for their threats, also urged the overthrow of the government following Bibi's acquittal.

The case has brought international attention to Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law, which carries an automatic death penalty. The mere suspicion of blasphemy against Islam is enough to ignite mob lynchings in the country.

The friend, who last spoke to her on Tuesday, said Bibi and her husband Ashiq Masih had spent the last several weeks getting their documents in order. He said she was longing to see her daughters, with whom she talked to almost daily from her secure location, protected by Pakistani security forces.

FILE - In this Nov. 20, 2010, file photo, Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, listens to officials at a prison in Sheikhupura near Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistani media say Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row, has left Pakistan for Canada to be reunited with her daughters. Wilson Chawdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association told The Associated Press on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, he received a telephone text message from a British diplomat stating simply that "Aasia is out." (AP Photo, File)

Chawdhry said he had been in regular contact with Bibi's husband throughout the ordeal as well as with several diplomats as part of an international effort to have her freed. </s> Asia Bibi: Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy is now in Canada

Asia Bibi: Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy is now in Canada

A Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan has landed in Canada to be reunited with her daughters, her lawyer has said.

Saiful Malook told Sky News on then phone that Ms Bibi arrived in Ottawa yesterday.

She was convicted of blasphemy in 2009 after a quarrel with a fellow farm worker.

The mother-of-five spent eight years on death row until the Supreme Court overturned her conviction in October.

She has since been in protective custody.

Mr Malook said Canadian officials have greeted Ms Bibi and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is aware of her arrival.

"She is now free and can live her life," Mr Malook told Sky News.

Islamic extremists have rioted over Ms Bibi's case and threatened to kill her.

The same radical Islamists, many of whom have been jailed for their threats, also urged the overthrow of the government following Ms Bibi's acquittal.

It has been a case of high-tension from the outset, with Salman Taseer, a Punjabi governor who supported Ms Bibi, shot by his own bodyguard in Islamabad in 2011.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted about Ms Bibi's release: "Fantastic news that Asia Bibi appears to have left Pakistan safely."

Ms Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, asked Theresa May to grant them asylum in Britain following her acquittal. He also called for asylum from US President Donald Trump and Mr Trudeau.

Mr Trudeau said his government was in talks with Pakistan over granting her asylum in November.

The blasphemy law in Pakistan carries a mandatory death penalty and many hardline religious groups are opposed to it being amended.

The mere suspicion of blasphemy against Islam is enough to ignite mob lynchings in the country.

Those accused of blasphemy are incarcerated immediately, denied bail in most cases and put in solitary confinement.

Ms Bibi has always maintained her innocence.

More than 1,300 people have been charged in the last 30 years and many of them have been murdered before their trial is even complete.

A close friend of Ms Bibi's, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said Ms Bibi and her husband had spent the last several weeks getting their documents in order.

He said she was longing to see her daughters, who have fled to Canada and were granted asylum there.

Ms Bibi has talked to them almost daily from her secure location, protected by Pakistani security forces, the friend added. </s> Asia Bibi had been waiting for months for paperwork to be completed so that she could take up an offer of asylum afp/Getty Images

A Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy charges after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan left the country last night to be reunited with her daughters in Canada after months of delays.

Asia Bibi, a 47-year-old mother of four, had been under pressure not to speak out against the state. Arrangements for the family remain a closely guarded secret, with Islamist hardliners still calling for her to be killed.

A government official in Pakistan told The Times this morning: “Asia Bibi left Pakistan according to her own wish. She was a free citizen.” Friends and other officials confirmed that she had departed.

A foreign diplomat said: “We are delighted. We were afraid of her security and there were hurdles in completing her travel arrangements.” </s> Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan, has left the country for Canada to be reunited with her daughters, Pakistan’s media said.

Wilson Chawdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he had received a text message from a British diplomat stating simply: “Aasia is out.”

A close friend of Ms Bibi confirmed that she had left the country, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Ms Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2009 after a quarrel with a fellow farm worker.

She spent eight years on death row until the Supreme Court last year overturned her conviction. She has since been in protective custody.

Islamic extremists have rioted over the case and threatened to kill her. </s> A Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan has left for Canada to be reunited with her daughters, Pakistani officials and others involved in the case said Wednesday.

Aasia Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2009 after a quarrel with a fellow farmworker. The Supreme Court overturned her conviction last year, and she had been in protective custody since then.

READ MORE: Canada says safety of Pakistan woman Asia Bibi top priority

Islamic extremists have rioted over the case and threatened to kill her. The same radical Islamists, many of whom have been jailed for their threats, also urged the overthrow of the government following Bibi’s acquittal.

Wilson Chawdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association told The Associated Press that he received a text message from a British diplomat saying “Aasia is out.” A close friend of Bibi also confirmed that she had left the country, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. Her lawyer, Saif-ul Malook, said she had already arrived in Canada.

Officials at Pakistan’s interior and foreign ministries also confirmed her departure, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

The case has brought international attention to Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law, which carries an automatic death penalty. The mere suspicion of blasphemy against Islam is enough to ignite mob lynchings in the country. The accusation of blasphemy has also been used to intimidate religious minorities and to settle scores.

Radical Islamists have made the punishment of blasphemy a major rallying cry, bringing tens of thousands into the streets and paralyzing major cities.

WATCH: Protests after Christian acquitted of blasphemy in Pakistan

Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, was shot and killed by one of his guards in 2011 for defending Bibi and criticizing the misuse of the blasphemy law. The assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, has been celebrated as a martyr by hard-liners since he was hanged for the killing, with millions visiting a shrine set up for him near Islamabad. Pakistan’s minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, was assassinated later that year after demanding justice for Bibi.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed not to be intimidated by the rioters, saying the rule of law would decide Bibi’s fate. But she was denied permission to leave the country for several months until sentiments cooled.

The friend, who last spoke to her on Tuesday, said Bibi and her husband Ashiq Masih had spent the last several weeks getting their documents in order. He said she was longing to see her daughters, with whom she talked to almost daily from her secure location, protected by Pakistani security forces.

Chawdhry said he had been in regular contact with Bibi’s husband throughout the ordeal as well as with several diplomats involved in international efforts to free her and get her to safety.

A three-judge Supreme Court panel in January cleared Bibi’s final legal hurdle when they ruled there was no compelling reason to overturn the court’s earlier acquittal. The judges accused those who charged Bibi with blasphemy of committing perjury, but said they would not be tried because of the sensitivity of the case. The judges upheld the blasphemy law. </s> ASIA BIBI, THE Christian woman at the centre of a decade-long blasphemy row, has left Pakistan for Canada to be reunited with her daughters, months after her death sentence was overturned to mass protests by Islamist hardliners.

Wilson Chawdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association told The Associated Press he received a telephone text message from a British diplomat stating simply that “Asia is out.”

A close friend of Bibi also confirmed that she had left the country, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Her departure was reported by Dawn, Pakistan’s biggest English-language newspaper, and Geo News, one of the country’s largest private broadcasters. Both cited unnamed official and unofficial sources.

Bibi – a labourer from central Punjab province – was first convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and was on death row until her acquittal last year.

Her case swiftly became the most infamous in Pakistan, drawing worldwide attention to extremism in the country where blasphemy is an incendiary issue. It carries a maximum death penalty under the country’s penal code.

Mere allegations of insulting Islam have sparked lynchings in the past.

Bibi has technically been free to leave Pakistan since January when the Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge to her acquittal in October.

Since then, Bibi has been widely believed to have been held in protective custody by authorities as she awaited an asylum deal in a third country.

Many blasphemy cases in Pakistan see Muslims accusing Muslims, but rights activists have warned that religious minorities – particularly Christians – are often caught in the crossfire, with such accusations used to settle personal scores.

© – AFP 2019 with reporting from Associated Press </s> The Pakistani Christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy has left the country where she has been living in hiding as one of the nation's most reviled figures.

Asia Bibi's lawyer, Saif-ul Malook, told NPR the practicing Catholic and her husband arrived in Canada on Tuesday, where they have reunited with their children.

"I am happy that she has been allowed to leave the country," Malook said.

Although he was unable to speak with Bibi before her departure, he said the Canadian embassy arranged the couple's move. "She will be more secure in Canada," he added.

"I think it is a wise decision by the government of Pakistan to let her go. After all they did not have any legal justification to bar her from traveling because she was a free citizen after the Supreme Court's decision."

Although she was exonerated in October 2018, a review petition against her release prevented her from leaving the country. That was rejected a few months ago.

Bibi, an illiterate farm worker, was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad by her fellow Muslim workers when they feared she might drink water from the same vessel. She was sentenced to death and spent more than eight years in solitary confinement before the country's Supreme Court acquitted her in October 2018.

The reversal and the court's subsequent decision to uphold the ruling, each sparked days of violent demonstrations and rioting that roiled the country. Religious radicals, who demanded her execution, levied death threats against Bibi as well as the judges who freed her. They also urged Pakistani military forces to revolt against the army chief of staffs and for the public to overthrow of the government.

For their own protection, Bibi and her husband had been living in an undisclosed location since her conviction was overturned. For months, she had been planning to join her two daughters, who had also faced threats of violence in Pakistan and fled to Canada where they received asylum.

Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian government's diplomacy arm, said it had no comment on the matter.

"Asia Bibi is now free, and we wish her and her family all the best following their reunification," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Wednesday. "The United States uniformly opposes blasphemy laws anywhere in the world, as they jeopardize the exercise of fundamental freedoms."

Responding to reports of Bibi's successful departure to Canada, human rights organization Amnesty International said, "She should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone faced the death penalty. That she then had to endure the repeated threats to her life, even after being acquitted, only compounds the injustice. This case illustrates the dangers of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and the urgent need to repeal them."

As NPR's Philip Reeves reported, despite pressure from international organizations and governments, as well as more progressive pockets of the population, "open discussion of the blasphemy laws will remain extremely difficult in Pakistan because of the deadly response it can draw from religious extremists."

On Tuesday, Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, which has been in contact with Bibi throughout the ordeal, said she and her husband "have remained resolute in their faith and have prayed daily for their release and today God has answered their prayers."

The group reports 14 Christians, in addition to Bibi, have been accused of blasphemy in recent years and in remain in jail.

"Since 1990, at least 65 people have reportedly been killed in Pakistan over claims of blasphemy," the BBC reported. </s> AFP file photo | Asia Bibi, the Christian woman at the centre of a decade-long blasphemy row, has left Pakistan for Canada.

Asia Bibi, the Christian woman at the centre of a decade-long blasphemy row, has left Pakistan, a senior government source told AFP Wednesday, months after her death sentence was overturned to mass protests by Islamist hardliners.

Her departure is the latest chapter in a saga that has sparked violent demonstrations and high-profile assassinations while spotlighting religious extremism across wide sections of Pakistani society.

"Asia Bibi has left Pakistan of her own free will," the government source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was not clear when Bibi may have left or where she may have gone. Her lawyer, Saif ul Mulook, said he had not spoken to Bibi directly but understood from "sources" that she was in Canada, where her daughters are believed to have already fled.

There was no immediate announcement from Pakistani officials or the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad.

"It is a great relief that this shameful ordeal has finally come to an end and Asia Bibi and her family are safe," said Omar Waraich, deputy South Asia director at Amnesty International.

"She should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone endure the constant threats to her life. This case horrifyingly illustrates the dangers of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and the urgent need to repeal them."

It is an incendiary issue in the Muslim-majority country, and mere allegations of insulting Islam have sparked lynchings and vigilante violence in the past.

Bibi -- a labourer from central Punjab province -- was first convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and was on death row until her acquittal last year.

Her case swiftly became the most infamous in Pakistan, drawing worldwide attention to extremism in the country.

She has technically been free to leave Pakistan since January when the Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge to her acquittal in October.

Since then, Bibi has been widely believed to have been held in protective custody by authorities as she awaited an asylum deal in a third country.

Many blasphemy cases in Pakistan see Muslims accusing Muslims, but rights activists have warned that religious minorities -- particularly Christians -- are often caught in the crossfire, with such accusations used to settle personal scores.

Two politicians have been assassinated in connection with Bibi's case, and she spent much of her time in prison in solitary confinement because of fears she could be attacked by a guard or another prisoner.

Islamist groups have regularly called for her to be executed, and activists have warned that she would not be safe in Pakistan.

Following Bibi's acquittal in October the country was gripped for days by violent protests led by hardline group Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), which also called for mutiny in the armed forces and assassination of the country's top judges for acquitting her.

In the wake of the nationwide protests, TLP's leaders -- who paralysed the capital Islamabad for weeks in 2017 with an anti-blasphemy sit-in -- were rounded up in a government crackdown months ago and remain in detention.

Christians -- who make up around two percent of the population -- occupy one of the lowest rungs in class-obsessed Pakistani society, largely living in slums and working menial jobs as street sweepers, cleaners and cooks. </s> What was she accused of?

Why was her case so divisive?

Pakistan's top court has rejected a challenge to the acquittal of a Christian woman on blasphemy charges.The Supreme Court upheld its decision to overturn Asia Bibi's conviction and death sentence.She wasShe has always maintained her innocence in a case that has polarised Pakistan.Hardliners had petitioned to overturn this ruling."Based on merit, this petition is dismissed," Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said in court on Tuesday.Asia Bibi - also known as Asia Noreen - was unable to leave Pakistan while an appeal request was pending."She should now be free to reunite with her family and seek safety in a country of her choice," Amnesty International said in a statement.Asia Bibi is being kept by authorities at a secret location in Islamabad.The ruling clears the way for her to leave Pakistan, though it is not clear when that will happen and where she will go., and some unconfirmed reports say several members of her family may already be abroad.Meanwhile, the court ruling will test the resolve of the far right Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistan group, which has conducted a violent anti-blasphemy campaign in the past, though many of its leaders have been under arrest since October when the court first acquitted Asia Bibi.In a concerted move to forestall public unrest, Pakistani electronic media is underplaying the story.Many observers believe the ruling will revive the practice of applying standard legal tests of criminal procedure while adjudicating blasphemy cases, as they had increasingly become hostage to vigilante justice by extremists.The trial stems from an argument Asia Bibi had with a group of women in June 2009.They were harvesting fruit when a row broke out about a bucket of water.Prosecutors alleged that in the row which followed, the women said Asia Bibi should convert to Islam and that she made offensive comments about the Prophet Muhammad in response., during which her accusers say she confessed to blasphemy. She was arrested after a police investigation.Acquitting her, the Supreme Court said that the case was based on unreliable evidence andIslam is Pakistan's national religion and underpins its legal system. Public support for the strict blasphemy laws is strong.Hardline politicians have often backed severe punishments, partly as a way of shoring up their support base.But critics say the laws have often been used to exact revenge after personal disputes, and that convictions are based on thin evidence.Since the 1990s scores of Christians have also been convicted. They make up just 1.6% of the population.The Christian community has been targeted by numerous attacks in recent years, leaving many feeling vulnerable to a climate of intolerance.Since 1990, at least 65 people have reportedly been killed in Pakistan over claims of blasphemy.Asia Bibi, who was born in 1971 and has four children, was the first woman to be sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws.
Asia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row, has left Pakistan for Canada to be reunited with her daughters.