Asia Bibi reaches Canada after leaving Pakistan, reunites with family

She was sentenced to death in 2010.

"Her daughters are in Ottawa".

"We are not hearing the case again, the lawyer was unable to point out a single error in the judgment", Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa said of the petition to review last year's ruling.

After her acquittal, Bibi had been living in secret locations within Pakistan, as she worked with European diplomats who were trying to secure her release from the country. Scores of Christians have been convicted of blasphemy since the 1990s.

The Supreme Court had on October 31 a year ago acquitted her of blasphemy charges.

"It is a big day", Saif Ul Malook, said.

Bibi's backstory is well known after global attention was focused on her case. The same party, whose leaders including firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi are in jail, also urged the overthrow of the government following Bibi's acquittal.

Additional information about how and when she left Pakistan was not immediately available.

"The Supreme Court of Pakistan has announced that the allegation against her for blasphemy was false", he said. "She should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone endured the constant threats to her life".

Wilson Chowdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association said he was not surprised the Pakistani government "has caved in to extremists - this is a commonly recurring socio-political trend in Pakistan".

The workers had refused to drink from a bucket of water Bibi had touched because she was not Muslim.

"It is a great relief that this shameful ordeal has finally come to an end and Asia Bibiand her family are safe", said Omar Waraich, deputy South Asia director at Amnesty International.

It was not clear when Bibi may have left or where she may have gone, though British Prime Minister Theresa May appeared to confirm that Canada was her destination while speaking on the floor of the House of Commons.

Officials at Pakistan's interior and foreign ministries also confirmed her departure from the country on condition of anonymity.

"Politicians have historically been hijacked by either the extremist groups within the nation or the military, this situation is simply the status quo as far as I am concerned", he said.

Ashiq Mesih (R) and Eisham Ashiq, the husband and daughter of Asia Bibi, speak during an interview with AFP in London, on October 12, 2018.

Chawdhry said he had been in regular contact with Bibi's husband throughout the ordeal as well as with several diplomats involved in worldwide efforts to get her to safety.

Radical Islamists have made the punishment of blasphemy a major rallying cry, bringing tens of thousands into the streets and paralyzing major cities.

Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, was shot and killed by one of his guards in 2011 for defending Bibi and criticizing the misuse of the blasphemy law. Millions visit a shrine dedicated to him in Islamabad every year. Federal minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti was also killed after calling for her release.