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Pakistani protesters burn a poster of Christian woman Asia Bibi, convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death for eight years, acquitted by a Supreme Court, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on Thursday, November 1, 2018. Bibi plans to leave the country. His family said on Thursday that the Islamists were holding rallies demanding the public hanging of Bibi and calling for the assassination of the three judges, including the president of the court, Mian Saqib Nisar, who acquitted Bibi. (Associated Press)
MULTAN, Pakistan – The husband of a Christian woman acquitted eight years after her death sentence for blasphemy, without being released as a result of national protests, appealed on Sunday to US President Donald Trump and the British Prime Minister Theresa May to help the family leave Pakistan.
The husband of Asia Bibi, Ashiq Masih, said in a brief video message that they were in danger in Pakistan.
"Please, help us, we have problems in Pakistan," Masih told Trump and May. Masih had previously told the Associated Press by phone that he and his wife feared for their lives. "We are now living under a heightened sense of fear."
Bibi's lawyer, Saiful Malook, has already fled the country for his safety.
Bibi was arrested in 2009 after being accused of blasphemy following a feud with two other farm workers who refused to drink in a can of water used by a Christian. A few days later, a crowd accuses him of insulting the Prophet of Islam, which led to his death sentence in 2010. Bibi's family has always maintained his innocence and says that she has not never insulted the prophet.
Insulting Islam is punishable by death in Pakistan, and the mere rumor of doing so may incite lynching.
The Pakistani supreme court acquitted Bibi on Wednesday of death sentence charges, exasperating extremist Islamists who held national demonstrations for three days demanding its execution. The raging protesters burned dozens of vehicles, blocked roads and attacked public and government property. a radical cleric also threatened to kill the three judges who acquitted Bibi. The demonstrations ended after the government agreed to impose a travel ban on Bibi and allow him to examine his case. An application for review has been filed in the Supreme Court.
Earlier in the day, police announced that more than 150 people had been arrested for arson, vandalism and violence at demonstrations.
Senior police officer Nayab Haider said the police used video clips to identify people involved in assaults, property fires and vehicles and blocking roads.
Fawad Chaudhry, Minister of Information, said the government could not spare those involved in acts of violence. He said the government cleaned up the blocked cities without bloodshed.
"No government can tolerate a rebellion against the state," Chaudhry said.
Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari tweeted that "appeasement to" avoid bloodshed "sends a dangerous message to non-state actors and undermines the concept of peaceful democratic protest."
"The state must uphold the rule of law, establish a constitution and defend its institutions, especially when they are targeted," Mazari added.
Also on Sunday, some 2,000 Jamaat-e-Islami supporters staged a protest march in the southern port city of Karachi against the acquittal of Bibi, but remained peaceful.
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Zarar Khan, Associate Press Editor in Islamabad, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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