{UAH} Christian woman cleared of blasphemy in Pakistan prepares to flee the country
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Protesters took to the streets to demand she be hanged.
Christian woman cleared of blasphemy in Pakistan prepares to flee the country as Islamists protest for a second day to demand she is hanged and judges who freed her are murdered
- Asia Bibi's brother said she would leave Pakistan a day after she was acquitted
- France and Spain have offered asylum but it is not yet clear where she will go
- Protesters blocked roads, burned tyres and demanded the three judges' deaths
- The chief justice defended the ruling saying 'we are not judges only for Muslims'
A Christian woman who escaped hanging when her conviction for blasphemy was overturned is preparing to flee Pakistan, as huge crowds of Islamist protesters launched a second day of protests against her acquittal.
Asia Bibi's brother said she would leave Pakistan after her formal release, a day after she was cleared of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row over a cup of water.
Today protesters took to the streets again, calling for her to be executed, demanding the judges who freed her be killed and barricading major roads to stage mass rallies across the country.
Bibi's brother, James Masih, said his sister was not safe in Pakistan - as authorities revealed they had arrested two prisoners last month for conspiring to kill her - and that paperwork for her release and departure was being processed.
Supporters of Islamic political party Ahle Sunnat Waljamaat wave flags and shout slogans during a protest in Sargodha on Thursday, a day after the acquittal of a Christian woman
Pakistani protesters burn tyres while blocking a main road during a protest after a court decision, in the southern city of Karachi where hundreds of demonstrators were on the streets
Islamic fundamentalists raise their arms and chant slogans on the Faizabad bridge in Islamabad, blocking the overpass amid fresh protests over Asia Bibi's acquittal
Radical Islamists hold up placards and wear slogans on their headbands on the second day of a rally in Karachi to condemn the Supreme Court decision that acquitted Asia Bib
Protesters from the Islamic party Tehrik Labaik Ya RasoolAllah (TLP) form a large crowd in Peshawar as radical groups call for Bibi to be hanged and the judges who freed her killed
Protesters from the hardline party Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) burn tree branches to block a street leading to Pakistan's Supreme Court in Islamabad today
Protesters take to the streets in Lahore as outrage spreads among radical Muslims over the Christian woman's escape from death row after allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad
Supporters of an Islamist party hold up flags and placards and shout slogans in a second day of demonstrations following the controversial acquittal of a Christian accused of blasphemy
Hafiz Saeed, the head of a banned Islamic charity, speaks to supporters in Lahore today as he announces plans to challenge the Asia Bibi verdict in the Supreme Court
Islamist protesters mount a second day of rallies in Karachi and occupy a street holding a banner which reads: 'Release of blasphemous Asia is unacceptable'
A supporter of a radical Islamic group stands guard as protesters block a main highway in the city of Peshawar in northern Pakistan today on the second day of demonstrations
France and Spain have offered asylum but Masih did not say where his sister was heading, once she is released from the undisclosed place where she is being held.
Jail officials said two inmates were arrested last month at an undisclosed detention facility for planning to kill Bibi by strangling her. They said the men were still being questioned.
Officials said Bibi is at a safe facility but that she still fears for her life and has trouble sleeping, fearing someone might harm her.
Today outraged protesters took to the streets again, burning tyres and blocking roads while paramilitary forces struggled to keep the peace.
More than 1,000 Islamists blocked a key road linking the capital, Islamabad with the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, demanding Bibi be publicly hanged.
In the southern city of Karachi leaders of an ultra-Islamist party told supporters to keep starting fires when police put the blazes out.
Groups of about 200 protesters from the Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) party - whose co-founder was among those to demand the judges' deaths - sat under large tents, listening to speeches on two blocked roads.
Bibi, 53, was accused of insulting Islam in a row which erupted after neighbours objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim.
The mother-of four, who had been living on death row since 2010, would have been the first woman sentenced to death by hanging under Pakistan's tough blasphemy laws.
But a three-judge panel set up to hear the appeal, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, ruled the evidence was insufficient.
The chief justice said: 'I and the bench are all lovers of the Prophet. But we are not judges only for Muslims.
'If there is no proof against someone, how can we punish them?'
The judgment was published in Urdu as well as English so that ordinary citizens could read it and understand it, he said, according to Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
The case has divided Pakistan, where two politicians who sought to help Bibi were assassinated.
Further mass demonstrations are scheduled for Friday, the holiest day of the Islamic week and a time when the size of demonstrations can often swell.
Free woman: Asia Bibi, 53, has been on death row since 2010, after being accused of insulting Islam during an argument over a water bowl with a group of Muslim women in Punjab
Lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook, who represented Bibi, said the verdict was the happiest day of his life but said he feared for his life, saying: 'No security and I am the easiest target'
An armed police officer tries to keep the peace in front of a line of people in Peshawar today
A sea of hands among religious protesters in Karachi. The placard reads: 'Hang cursed Asia'
Political leader Hafiz Saaed speaks to supporters at a mosque in Lahore as darkness falls on the Pakistani protests
Pakistani cleric Hafiz Saeed, whom the U.S. accuses of being the mastermind of attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, addresses supporters at a mosque in Lahore today
Pakistani protesters occupy a road in Karachi on Thursday during the second day of nationwide protests. The banner on the left reads: 'Revert the court's decision regarding Asia'
A young child is among the protesters at Pakistani demonstrations against the court decision
Supporters ofTLP sell shirts with pictures of the party's leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi. A senior member has said the judges should be killed by 'their security, their driver, or their cook'
A huge crowd of protesters blocking a street in Karachi hold a rally against the court decision
Dissenters sit on a public street in Faisalabad holding up placards to protest the court's decision. Some of them show nooses amid calls for Asia Bibi to be hanged for blasphemy
Supporters of a hardline party hold up poles as they stop traffic on a street in Peshawar today
A large crowd of demonstrators chant slogans during the protests in Karachi on Thursday
Commuters walk past supporters of radical Islamist groups blocking a main Peshawar highway
Radical Islamists rally to condemn Wednesday's Supreme Court decision in Karachi today
Police arrest supporters of the hard-line TLP party in Faisalabad on day two of the protests
Protesters raised their arms on a street in Faisalabad during mass protests across the country
People walk past shipping containers placed by authorities to stop protesters in Islamabad
A Pakistani watches a televised speech by the country's Prime Minister, former cricketer Imran Khan, who warned that the government would act against any prolonged blockade
Protesters take to the streets of Karachi on Thursday holding up placards against the decision
A supporter of the Jamat-e-Islami party raises his fists during Thursday's protests in Karachi
It has also outraged Christians worldwide, with Pope Francis saying he personally prayed for Bibi and worshippers in Pakistan celebrating the outcome.
The lawyer who defended her called it the happiest day of his life but said 'anyone could kill me', saying he had no security or plan to escape.
Saif-ul-Mulook hailed the verdict saying 'the poor, the minorities and the lowest segments of society can get justice in this country despite its shortcomings'.
But he said: 'I think I have absolutely no safety. No security and I am the easiest target... anybody can kill me.'
In a televised national broadcast late on Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the protesters the government would act against any prolonged blockade.
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'We will not allow any damages. 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.
'We will protect people's properties and lives, we will not allow any sabotage.'
The PM won praise for his stance, with a column in the English daily Dawn saying he had taken 'an unequivocal and strong line against religious bigotry and hatred that we have not seen taken in almost two decades'.
Khan's broadcast followed comments by a senior leader of the Islamist TLP group, calling for Chief Justice Nisar and the other two judges to be killed.
'They all three deserve to be killed,' TLP co-founder Muhammad Afzal Qadri told a protest in Lahore. 'Either their security, their driver, or their cook should kill them.'
Later on Thursday, lawyer Ghulam Mustafa filed a petition in the Supreme Court requesting the judges review the acquittal as the government began talks with rally organizers to end their protests, which led to dozens of vehicles being torched.
Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers in parliament called Thursday for reforming the judicial system and Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law - so that innocents like Bibi wouldn't spent years languishing in jail.
The head of Pakistani organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saaed speaks to supporters at a mosque, as night falls during Pakistan's protests against the Supreme Court decision
Authorities place shipping containers to stop protesters near Faizabad junction amid protests
Protesters hold flags and block the streets of Islamabad at the city's Faizabad junction today
Pakistani supporters of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), a hardline religious political party, hold up a banner during a protest in Quetta on Thursday
A huge crowd of supporters blocks a street in Karachi during Thursday's Asia Bibi protests
A line of demonstrators stand in front of a crowd at a protest against the ruling in Islamabad
Police arrest a supporter of Islamic party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan in Faisalabad today
Crowds of religious activists gather in Karachi today to protest the acquittal of Christian woman Asia Bibi, who had been convicted in 2010 of blasphemy
A TLP supporter stands in a public square in Peshawar amid fresh protests against the court
Supporters of Jamiat Talaba Islam (JTI), the student wing of religious and political party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) hold signs in Karachi today as they protest the Supreme Court's decision
Pakistani supporters of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), a hardline religious political party, chant slogans at today's protest in Karachi
Members of a fundamentalist religious party chant slogans on the Faizabad bridge in Islamabad, blocking streets on the second day of protests over Asia Bibi's acquittal
Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a hardline religious political party, block a street with bicycles during a protest in Islamabad with more demonstrators in the background
A Pakistani man on a bicycle rides past a burning tyre on a street in Karachi, Pakistan, amid a second day of protests after a Christian woman on death row for eight years was acquitted
A protester from the fundamentalist Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party raises his arms in a crowd of people blocking a bridge in Islamabad on the second day of demonstrations
Religious protesters make their voice heard in Islamabad today as they take to the streets for a second day, demanding the Christian woman be hanged and the judges be killed
Bibi, pictured, will be leaving Pakistan once paperwork to release her is completed, her brother said. Spain and France have offered asylum but it is not yet clear where she will go
Protesters from the student wing of a religious party protest against Bibi's acquittal in Karachi
Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a hardline religious political party, rest on the blocked Faizabad bridge during a protest in Islamabad on Thursday
Radical Islamists rally in Karachi to condemn the high court decision that acquitted Asia Bibi
A man holding a water bottle raises his arms in front of a group of demonstrators in Karachi
TLP supporters in Peshawar block a street during a protest following the Supreme Court ruling
Riot police wearing helmets and vests and holding shields prepare for protests in Peshawar
Placards reading 'Muhammad' are held up during a second day of protests in Karachi today
Pakistani people read the Daily Times newspaper, carrying the news of Asia Bibi's acquittal, in Karachi on Thursday. The case which used a 1980s blasphemy law has divided Pakistan
He also called for the ouster of Khan's new government and urged army officers to rise up against powerful military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Hafiz Saeed, an influential Islamist whom the U.S. accuses of being the mastermind of attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166, has called for protests after Friday afternoon prayers.
Tehreek-e-Labbaik claimed Thursday that two of its supporters were killed by police fire during overnight clashes in Karachi although no government official could confirm any casualties. The party has demanded a public execution for Bibi.
Another Islamist group, the Milli Yakjehti Council, is also meeting on Thursday to discuss Bibi's case and may launch protests.
A series of anti-blasphemy measures introduced in Pakistan in the 1980s made it illegal to insult Islam.
People have been accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, tearing pages of the holy Quran or writing offensive remarks on the walls of mosques.
At least 1,472 people were charged under the law between 1987 and 2016, according to the Center for Social Justice, an advocacy group.
Of those, 730 were Muslims, 501 were Ahmedis - a sect that is reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics - while 205 were Christians and 26 were Hindus.
Bibi's husband, who returned from Britain with their children in mid-October and was waiting for her to join them, praised yesterday's verdict.
'I am very happy. My children are very happy. We are grateful to God. We are grateful to the judges for giving us justice. We knew that she is innocent,' said Ashiq Masih.
'My wife spent so many years in jail and we hope that we will soon be together in a peaceful place,' he said.
Hard-liners block a street in Peshawar today during a protest following the Supreme Court decision to acquit Christian woman Asia Bibi
A man walks past closed shops at a market in the southern city of Karachi which had to shut its doors when the protests kicked off yesterday
A closed market that was shut down following violent protests yesterday is pictured in Karachi today. Asia Bibi was accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row over a cup of water
A shopkeeper reads a newspaper as he sits on a push cart at a closed market in Karachi today
Protesters lie on blankets on the blocked bridge in Islamabad as they stake out for the demonstration against the Christian woman's acquittal. She is now leaving the country
A man walks past a market that was left empty this morning after it was shut during violent protests on Wednesday
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Islamists protest for a second day over Pakistani Christian woman
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