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 was originally convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her neighbours.

Asia Bibi has always maintained her innocence in a case that has polarised Pakistan.

The original ruling set off violent protests by religious hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws.

Asia Bibi spent eight years on death row before the Supreme Court quashed her sentence last October.

Hardliners had petitioned to overturn this ruling.

"Based on merit, this petition is dismissed," Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosar said in court on Tuesday. </s> Pakistan protesters rally to condemn a Supreme Court decision that ordered the release of Asia Bibi, a Catholic mother of five who has been on death row since 2010 accused of blasphemy, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018. Pakistan's top court on Wednesday acquitted Bibi who was sentenced to death under the country's controversial blasphemy law, a landmark ruling that sparked protests by hard-line Islamists and raised fears of violence. Placard reads, "hang blasphemous Asia." (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad) (AP) </s> ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday (Oct 31) freed a Christian woman from a death sentence for blasphemy against Islam and overturned her conviction, sparking angry protests and death threats from an ultra-Islamist party and cheers from human rights advocates.

New Prime Minister Imran Khan issued a warning to the religious right late in the evening that any prolonged blockade of streets would be met with action.

Asia Bibi, a mother of four, had been living on death row since 2010, when she became the first woman to be sentenced to death by hanging under Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws, which critics say are too harsh and often misused.

She was condemned for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Islam after neighbours objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim. Bibi has always denied committing blasphemy.

The case has outraged Christians worldwide - Pope Francis said he personally prayed for Bibi - and has been a source of division within Pakistan, where two politicians who sought to help Bibi were assassinated.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who headed a special three-judge bench set up for the appeal, cited the Koran in the ruling, writing that "tolerance is the basic principle of Islam" and noting the religion condemns injustice and oppression.

In overturning her conviction, the ruling said the evidence against Bibi was insufficient.

Bibi did not appear in the courtroom and her whereabouts were a closely held secret for fear of attacks on her and her family. Many have speculated they will be forced to leave the country, but there was no confirmation of their plans.

Her lawyer called the court ruling "great news" for Pakistan.

"Asia Bibi has finally been served justice," lawyer Saiful Mulook told Reuters. "Pakistan's Supreme Court must be appreciated that it upheld the law of the land and didn't succumb to any pressure."

Supporters of Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) immediately condemned Wednesday's ruling and blocked roads in major cities, pelting police with stones in the eastern city of Lahore.

Street protests and blockades of major roads were spreading by mid-afternoon, paralysing parts of Islamabad, Lahore and other cities.

One of the TLP's top leaders called for the death of Nisar, the chief justice, and the two other judges on the panel.

"They all three deserve to be killed. Either their security should kill them, their driver kill them, or their cook kill them," TLP co-founder Muhammad Afzal Qadri told a protest in Lahore.

"Whoever, who has got any access to them, kill them before the evening."

He also called for the ouster of Khan's new government of and for army officers to rise up against powerful military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who he said "should be sacked from the army".

Khan addressed the nation in a televised speech on Wednesday night, supporting the court ruling and warning the ultra-Islamists not to disrupt the nation.

"We will not allow any damages to occur. We will not allow traffic to be blocked," Khan said. "I appeal to you, do not push the state to the extent that it is forced to take action."

The TLP was founded out of a movement supporting a bodyguard who assassinated Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer for advocating for Bibi in 2011. Federal minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti was also killed after calling for her release.

In November, TLP staged a crippling blockade of Islamabad after small changes to a religious oath taken by election candidates, which it said were tantamount to blasphemy. Seven people were killed and more than 200 wounded in clashes with the police and TLP's supporters only dispersed after striking a deal with the military.

In February, Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, and one of her daughters met Pope Francis shortly before Rome's ancient Coliseum was lit in red one evening in solidarity with persecuted Christians, and Bibi in particular.

The pope told Bibi's daughter: "I think often of your mother and I pray for her."

Christians make up only about 2 per cent of Pakistan's population and are often discriminated against.

Dozens of Pakistanis - including many minority Christians or members of the Ahmadi faith - have been sentenced to death for blasphemy in the past decade, though no one has been executed.

Rights groups say the blasphemy law is exploited by religious extremists as well as ordinary Pakistanis to settle personal scores.

Additionally, at least 65 people have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, including a 23-year-old student beaten to death on his university campus last year.

"This is a landmark verdict," said Omar Waraich, deputy South Asia director for Amnesty International. "The message must go out that the blasphemy laws will no longer be used to persecute the country's most vulnerable minorities." </s> The lawyer who helped Asia Bibi, a Christian woman freed from jail after Pakistan’s top court overturned her death sentence in a blasphemy case, was offered a temporary asylum in the Netherlands on Thursday after he fled from Pakistan fearing for the safety of his family. Lawyer Saiful Mulook defended Asia Bibi who spent 8 years on death row until being acquitted on Wednesday.

This has come a day after Asia Bibi was released from Multan jail. There were reports that she was taken to Noor Khan Airbase Rawalpindi from where she was supposed to fly to the Netherlands, however, earlier today Pakistani authorities refuted these reports, saying she has not left for the Netherlands and was in Pakistan.

WHAT IS THE ENTIRE CASE?

Aisa Bibi is the second Pakistani Christian who was sentenced to death under country’s blasphemy laws under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code for defaming Prophet Mohammad. The offence if proven carries the mandatory death penalty under the law.

The case dates back to 2009 when as per Asia she entered into a quarrel with Mafia and Asma, both are eyewitnesses in the case and deposed to Asia making blasphemous remarks. The argument started when both the women refused to drink water brought by Asia Bibi because she was Christian. The two, Mafia and Asma along with a local cleric, Qari Mohammad Salaam later filed the case of blasphemy against her.

A trial court convicted Asia Bibi for blasphemy in November 2010 and sentenced her to death, but the order was suspended by the Supreme Court in 2015.

In 2018, the Supreme Court gave the final verdict acquitting Asia from all charges.

The case attracted international coverage and became a high profile one when two officials, former Punjab governor Salman Taseer and former Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti (a Christian) were assassinated for taking Asia’s side publicly. </s> Asia Bibi, Pakistani Woman Acquitted Of Blasphemy, Is Freed From Jail

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman acquitted days ago of blasphemy, has been freed from jail after spending more than eight years in solitary confinement awaiting execution.

The acquittal of Bibi, who is Catholic, was announced just over a week ago by Pakistan's Supreme Court, which said her accusers had not definitively proved her guilt. She was permitted to leave jail immediately after the verdict, but her release was delayed after protests from an extremist religious group, demanding she be killed.

Citing officials, the BBC reports that Bibi left her detention facility in Punjab province under heavy security on Wednesday and was flown to a secure location in Islamabad.

Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and sentenced to death. The conviction stemmed from an argument with her fellow Muslim farm workers. They accused her of being impure by virtue of her faith and claimed she insulted Islam.

Her case galvanized the country's religious right and sparked international concern over human rights and religious freedom in Pakistan, which is overwhelmingly Muslim.

As her conviction was reversed, "followers of a hard-line Pakistani religious group rushed onto major roads across the country to paralyze traffic in protest of the decision," according to NPR's Islamabad-based correspondent Diaa Hadid.

The mobs demanded Bibi, as well as the three Supreme Court judges who acquitted her, be killed.

The Italian government said earlier this week it would help Bibi and her family relocate. Several other Western countries have also offered her asylum. In the past, both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have advocated for her. </s> A petition to overturn last year’s acquittal of blasphemy charges against the Catholic wife and mother was dismissed Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD — A petition to overturn last year’s acquittal of blasphemy charges against Catholic wife and mother Asia Bibi was dismissed by Pakistan’s Supreme Court Tuesday.

The challenge was dismissed Jan. 29 by a three-member Supreme Court panel led by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.

Bibi, who has been in hiding since shortly following the initial verdict overturning her death sentence late last October, is expected to leave Pakistan if granted asylum abroad, the BBC reports.

The mother of five had spent eight years on death row in Pakistan on blasphemy charges after she was accused of making disparaging remarks about the Islamic prophet Muhammad after an argument stemming from a cup of water.

Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and was sentenced to death by hanging. She immediately appealed. The Lahore High Court upheld the conviction in 2014, which she then appealed to the country’s Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed to hear her appeal in 2015.

Her full acquittal by the Supreme Court Oct. 31, 2018, sparked renewed protests by Islamic hardliners in the country, who had called for her execution since her initial conviction.

Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad is preparing for the possibility of further protests by Islamist groups following Tuesday’s dismissal, despite having cracked down at the end of last year with the arrests of a number of those responsible for the unrest.

The country’s blasphemy laws impose strict punishment on those who desecrate the Quran or who defame or insult Muhammad. Pakistan’s state religion is Islam, and around 97% of the population is Muslim.

Although the government has never executed a person under the blasphemy law, accusations alone have inspired mob and vigilante violence.

Since her arrest, Bibi has garnered international support from numerous world leaders calling for her immediate release, including Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. In 2015, Pope Francis met with her daughter and offered his prayers. </s> The complainant in Asia Bibi case, Qari Muhammad Salaam, on Thursday filed a review petition through his counsel Azhar Siddiqui against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn her conviction in the blasphemy case, DawnNewsTV reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, the apex court had acquitted Asia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned to death on blasphemy charges, after accepting an appeal against her sentence.

Know more: Country remains tense on day 2 of protests against Asia Bibi's acquittal

In the review petition, filed at the Lahore registry of the apex court, the complainant has urged the Supreme Court to reconsider it yesterday's decision granting Asia Bibi's acquittal.

The SC in its much-anticipated judgement in the 'Asia Bibi v. The State, etc' case, reversed its earlier judgments handed down by the Lahore High Court as well as a trial court and thereby overturned the conviction of Asia Bibi in the blasphemy case against her.

The three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel had subsequently ordered the 50-something mother-of-four's immediate release from jail, where she had been languishing for 9-odd years. </s> A Pakistani Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row has been freed from prison, her lawyer said.

Some reports say Asia Bibi has boarded a plane but its destination was not known, BBC reported on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court ruling sparked protests from Islamists and the government had said it would bar her from leaving Pakistan.

Her husband had said they were in danger and pleaded for asylum.

Also Read: Pakistani Christian woman in limbo despite acquittal by top court

Asia Bibi, a mother-of-five, was released from prison in the city of Multan, her lawyer Saif Mulook said.

Also known as Asia Noreen, she was convicted in 2010 of insulting the Prophet Muhammad during a row with neighbours.

Several countries have offered her asylum.

The Pakistani government has said it will start legal proceedings to prevent her going abroad after agreeing the measure to end the violent protests.

Many of the protesters were hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws and called for Asia Bibi to be hanged.

One Islamist leader said all three Supreme Court judges also “deserved to be killed”.

Also Read: Fearing for life, Asia Bibi’s lawyer flees Pakistan, requests government to protect family

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 showed their dishonesty,” TLP spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi said.

The deal also saw officials agree not to block a petition for the Supreme Court to evaluate Asia Bibi’s acquittal in the light of Islamic Sharia law.

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. The women said that because she had used a cup, they could no longer touch it, as her faith had made it unclean.

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.

She was later beaten up at her home, 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 and her confession was delivered in front of a crowd “threatening to kill her”. </s> 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.
A Pakistani court overturns the death sentence of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy.