Pakistan blasphemy case: Asia Bibi freed from jail after eight years on death row

Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, who was last week acquitted by the Supreme Court in a blasphemy case after spending eight years on death row, has been freed from the prison in Multan city, her lawyer said. While she has boarded a plane, her destination was not known, BBC reported on Wednesday. Several countries have offered her asylum. Bibi, a 47-year-old mother of four, was convicted in 2010 for insulting Islam in a row with her neighbours in 2009. She always maintained her innocence but spent most of the past eight years in solitary confinement. The top court’s ruling had earned the wrath of several Islamists and had sparked countrywide protests. Several hardliners called for Bibi to be hanged. Bibi’s husband had said his family was in danger and had also pleaded for asylum. A spokesman for the hardline Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) party said Asia Bibi’s release was in breach of their deal with the government. “The rulers have shown their dishonesty,” TLP spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi said. The Imran Khan-led government has said that it will initiate legal proceedings to prevent Bibi from going abroad. Source: Indian Express