Islamabad, May 8
Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was freed from death row by the Pakistan Supreme Court in a blasphemy case last year, has left the country and reached Canada to reunite with her family, according to her lawyer.
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. Bibi’s counsel Saiful Malook confirmed that she has reached Canada, the Guardian reported.
He said that Bibi’s safe arrival in Canada was the result of hard work by activists, foreign diplomats and others, “who stood by Bibi in hard times and worked for her freedom”.
The Supreme Court had on October 31 last year acquitted her of blasphemy charges. The judgment triggered protests across Pakistan, with protesters led by Islamic political party Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan and other groups blocking major highways and roads in different parts of the country. The British Pakistani Christian Association too said hat they had “received confirmation from a British diplomat that Aasia Bibi had safely exited Pakistan”. — PTI
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2vNEB3C
via Today’s News Headlines
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