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Christian woman convicted of blasphemy overthrown "in plane", lawyer says
Asia Bibi.
Islamabad: Pakistani Christian sentenced to blasphemy for eight years on death row has been released from prison but still in the country after being chased out of Multan town where she was detained, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday Foreign.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Faisal denied media reports that Asia Bibi had left the country, telling AFP: "She is in Pakistan."
Asia Bibi's conviction was overturned by the country's highest court last Wednesday, but she remained in jail as the government negotiated with extremists blocking major cities and demanding its immediate execution.
Read more: All you need to know about the Asia Bibi case
"She was released," Saif-Ul-Mulook's lawyer said in a test message to AFP. "I've been told that she's in a plane but nobody knows where she's going to land."
According to a civil aviation official, the aircraft that recovered Bibi to the prison is registered in Pakistan and is therefore forced to land in Islamabad.
Following the protests that took place last week, the government agreed in an agreement with the Islamists to impose a ban on travel to Bibi and not to challenge an appeal to the Supreme Court.
An order for her release arrived Wednesday at Multan Prison, where she was arrested, said a prison official at AFP.
"Asia Bibi left the prison and was transferred to a safe place!", Tweeted Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament.
Another civil aviation official, in Multan, said that a small plane had arrived in the city with "some foreigners and some Pakistanis" on board to fetch Bibi.
His case brought to light deep divisions between traditionalists and modernizers in the Muslim country.
The conviction arises from an incident that occurred in 2009 when Bibi was asked to fetch water while he was working in the fields.
Muslim workers objected to her touching the bowl of water as a non-Muslim and a fight broke out.
A local imam then claimed that Bibi had insulted the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Bibi has always denied the charges and his lawsuits have brought together international human rights groups, political figures and religious figures.
Pope Benedict XVI called for his release in 2010, while his successor, Pope Francis, met the prisoner's daughter in 2015.
Incendiary charge
Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, asked Britain or the United States to grant asylum to his family, while his lawyer fled to the Netherlands.
Several governments, including Italy and France, have offered their help.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini tweeted: "I will do all that is humanly possible to guarantee the future of this young woman."
Blasphemy is an inflammatory charge in Pakistan's Muslim majority, where even unfounded accusations of insulting Islam can result in death at the hands of crowds.
Simple calls for law reform provoked violence, including the killing of Salmaan Taseer, governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, by his own bodyguard in broad daylight in Islamabad in 2011.
Taseer had called for the release of Bibi and his son Shahbaz had tweeted "Pakistan Zindabad" ("Long Life in Pakistan") following the ruling last week.
Thousands of Islamist extremists stormed the streets in protest after Supreme Court justices overturned Bibi's conviction last Wednesday.
Protests erupted in Pakistan's big cities in the wake of power, club-thirsty protesters blocking the main Islamabad highway and the barricaded roads of Karachi and Lahore.
One of the most vocal groups – the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) – called for "mutiny" against senior army officials and the assassination of the highest court's judges.
Mulook and the Pakistani media criticized the government for yielding to Islamist extremists after Prime Minister Imran Khan first appeared to stand up to them.
