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Dutch government offers temporary asylum to Asia Bibi's lawyer in the Netherlands

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Nov 08, 2018, 05:09 PM IST
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Saiful Mulook, Asia Bibi's lawyer. Photograph:(Reuters)

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Asia Bibi's lawyer, Saiful Mulook, left Pakistan on Saturday, due to fear that he could be attacked after Bibi's conviction was overturned on Wednesday, the Association for Persecuted Christians said.

 

The Dutch government has offered lawyer of Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi temporary asylum in the Netherlands, reports Reuters. 

Asia Bibi's lawyer, Saiful Mulook, left Pakistan on Saturday, due to fear that he could be attacked after Bibi's conviction was overturned by Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday, the Association for Persecuted Christians said.

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Asia spent eight years on death row for blasphemy has been freed from jail and is believed to have already flown out of the city of Multan where she was being held, heading for an unknown destination, her lawyer said Thursday.

Asia Bibi's release comes a week after her acquittal in a landmark case that triggered angry Islamist protests in Muslim-majority Pakistan and following appeals from her husband for Britain or the United States to grant the family asylum. 

The order for her release arrived Wednesday at the jail in the central city of Multan where she was held, a prison official told.

"Asia Bibi has left the prison and has been transferred to a safe place!" tweeted Antonio Tajani, president of the European Parliament.

(With inputs from agencies)