ISLAMABAD: The lawyer for Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian acquitted of capital blasphemy charges last year, said on Wednesday that she had left the country and landed in Canada at least 12 hours ago, ending a ten-year long saga that has outraged Christians worldwide and been a source of division within Pakistan.
Arab News could not independently verify the news of Bibi’s departure from Pakistan or her arrival in Canada from the Pakistani government or the foreign office. The office of the prime minister’s adviser on information, Firdous Ashiq Awan, said she was not immediately available for comment but would revert. The Canadian government has also not commented on the development yet but in November last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said his country was in talks with Pakistan about helping Bibi leave the country.
“She has reached Canada 12 hours ago, she is already there,” Bibi’s lawyer Saiful Mulook told Arab News. “Her children are in Ottawa and she has been reunited with them.”
A source at the foreign office said on condition of anonymity that Bibi was a “free person” and had left Pakistan of her “independent will.”
The poor farmworker and mother of three was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 over allegations she had spoken against the Prophet Muhammad during a heated argument with Muslim women in 2009. The death sentence verdict drew worldwide condemnation and focused attention on Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which critics say has been used to persecute religious minorities and settle personal scores.
Last October, the Supreme Court acquitted Bibi in an exceptionally rare ruling against a blasphemy verdict. She has since lived at a safe house in Pakistan, despite offers of asylum from countries including Canada.
Bibi’s acquittal after spending over eight years on death row sparked country-wide angry protests and death threats from hard-line Islamist groups and cheers from human rights advocates last year. The government has since arrested major leaders of the Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) religious political party that led the protests.
Despite the protests, this January, the Supreme Court upheld Bibi’s acquittal, dismissing a petition filed by Islamists who have called for her execution.
“It is a great relief that this shameful ordeal has finally come to an end and Asia Bibi and her family are safe,” said Omar Waraich, Deputy South Asia Director, Amnesty International. “She should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone endured the constant threats to her life.”
At least 65 people have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to Reuters, including a 23-year-old student beaten to death on his university campus in 2017.
Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi has landed in Canada – Lawyer
Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi has landed in Canada – Lawyer
- Arrived in Ottawa at least 12 hours ago, reunited with children, lawyer says
- The poor farmworker was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 but acquitted by the Supreme Court last year
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado march in cities worldwide
- Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since January
CARACAS: Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado demonstrated Saturday in several cities worldwide to commemorate her Nobel Peace Prize win ahead of the prestigious award ceremony next week.
Dozens of people marched through Madrid, Utrecht, Buenos Aires, Lima and other cities in support of Machado, whose organization wants to use the attention gained by the award to highlight Venezuela’s democratic aspirations. The organization expected demonstrations in more than 80 cities around the world on Saturday.
The crowd in Lima carried portraits of Machado and demanded a “Free Venezuela.” With the country’s yellow, blue and red flag draped over their backs or emblazoned on their caps, demonstrators clutched posters that read, “The Nobel Prize is from Venezuela.”
Venezuelan Verónica Durán, who has lived in Lima for eight years, said Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize is celebrated because “it represents all Venezuelans, the fallen and the political prisoners in their fight to recover democracy.”
The gatherings come at a critical point in the country’s protracted crisis as the administration of US President Donald Trump builds up a massive military deployment in the Caribbean, threatening repeatedly to strike Venezuelan soil. Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is among those who see the operation as an effort to end his hold on power, and the opposition has only added to this perception by reigniting its promise to soon govern the country.
“We are living through times where our composure, our conviction, and our organization are being tested,” Machado said in a video message shared Tuesday on social media. “Times when our country needs even more dedication because now all these years of struggle, the dignity of the Venezuelan people, have been recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Machado won the award Oct. 10 for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in the South American nation, winning recognition as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”
Machado, 58, won the opposition’s primary election and intended to run against Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González, who had never run for office before, took her place.
The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. It all increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.
González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Meanwhile, Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in what ended up being an underwhelming protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. The following day, Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term.
