Asia Bibi

ASIA BIBI, CHRISTIAN CLEARED OF BLASPHEMY CHARGES, LEAVES PAKISTAN FOR CANADA

May 8, 2019:

A Pakistani Christian woman who spent eight years on death row in Pakistan after being found guilty of blasphemy — a conviction that was later overturned — has arrived in Canada, her lawyer said on 8 May 2019. The woman, Asia Bibi, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 after being accused, based on little evidence, of speaking against the Prophet Muhammad during a heated argument with Muslim women. She insisted she had not done so and that she was the victim of false accusations prompted by bigotry.
Ms. Bibi, a former farmworker in her early 50s, was cleared of the charges last year and released from prison under government protection. That led to calls for her execution and violent protests by hard-line Islamists that paralyzed large parts of the country.