Asia Bibi leaves Pakistan in blasphemy row

Asia Bibi, the Christian woman at the centre of a decade-long blasphemy row, has left Pakistan, local media said Wednesday, months after her death sentence was overturned to mass protests by Islamist hardliners.

If confirmed, it will be the latest chapter in a saga that has sparked violent demonstrations and high-profile assassinations while spotlighting rising religious extremism across wide sections of Pakistani society.

It was not clear when Bibi may have left or where she may have gone. Her daughters are believed to have already fled to Canada.

Her departure was reported by Dawn, Pakistan's biggest English-language newspaper, and Geo News, one of the country's largest private broadcasters. Both cited unnamed official and unofficial sources.

Pakistani officials did not confirm the reports to AFP. The case is extraordinarily sensitive, and multiple previous claims about her departure ended up being false.

"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 at Amnesty International.

"She should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone endure the constant threats to her life. This case horrifyingly illustrates the dangers of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and the urgent need to repeal them."

Bibi -- a labourer from central Punjab province -- was first convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and was on death row until her acquittal last year.

Her case swiftly became the most infamous in Pakistan, drawing worldwide attention to extremism in the country where blasphemy is an incendiary issue. It carries a maximum death penalty under the country's penal code.

Mere allegations of insulting Islam have sparked lynchings in the past.

Bibi has technically been free to leave Pakistan since January when the Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge to her acquittal in October.

Since then, Bibi has been widely believed to have been held in protective custody by authorities as she awaited an asylum deal in a third country.

Many blasphemy cases in Pakistan see Muslims accusing Muslims, but rights activists have warned that religious minorities -- particularly Christians -- are often caught in the crossfire, with such accusations used to settle personal scores.

Two politicians have been assassinated in connection with Bibi's case, and she spent much of her time in prison in solitary confinement because of fears she could be attacked by a guard or another prisoner.

Islamist groups regularly call for her to be executed, while activists have warned that her life would be in danger if she remained in Pakistan.

Following Bibi's acquittal in October the country was gripped for days by violent protests led by hard line group Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), which also called for mutiny in the armed forces and assassination of the country's top judges for acquitting her.

In the wake of the nationwide protests, TLP's leaders -- who paralysed the capital Islamabad for weeks in 2017 with an anti-blasphemy sit-in -- were rounded up in a government crackdown months ago and remain in detention.

Christians -- who make up around two per cent of the population -- occupy one of the lowest rungs in class-obsessed Pakistani society, largely living in slums and working menial jobs as street sweepers, cleaners and cooks.