Islamabad: Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi, who was freed from death row last year, has reached Canada, according to her lawyer Saif Ul Malook.
She was convicted on charges of blasphemy in Pakistan in 2010 and sentenced to death. Her conviction was overturned in 2018, spurring protests from religious extremist groups in Pakistan.
The mother of five was separated from her family and kept in a safe house following her release, as she faced a threat to her life, reports CNN. Her children are already in the North American country.
Her conviction and death sentence was widely criticised by human rights groups across the world. Bibi was found guilty of defiling Prophet Mohammed's name during an argument with her Muslim co-workers. The argument ensued after her colleagues allegedly refused to drink from a bucket of water Bibi had touched.
The offence of blasphemy is punishable by death or life imprisonment as per Pakistan's penal code.
"Even if there was some grain of truth in the allegations levelled in this case against the appellant still the glaring contradictions in the evidence of the prosecution highlighted above clearly show that the truth, in this case, had been mixed with a lot which was untrue," the ruling, which freed Bibi of the charges and sentence against her, said.
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A petition review against the ruling was dismissed by the judges later, saying: "We are not hearing the case again, the lawyer was unable to point out a single error in the judgment."
The European Union recently threatened to suspend all subsidies and trade preferences to Islamabad if it does not take measures to "dismantle" religious the discriminatory laws under which Bibi was falsely charged.
