Lawyer: Asia Bibi needs Western visa

A lawyer for Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman acquitted of charges of blasphemy against Islam last month, said she would like to leave Pakistan for any Western country willing to accept her and her family. During a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Tuesday, Saiful Malook said the 54-year-old mother of five cannot depart Pakistan without a visa from another country: “So far, no government has come forward in such an open and free manner.”

The Supreme Court of Pakistan last month acquitted Bibi after eight years on death row, ruling prosecutors failed to prove she violated the country’s blasphemy law. She remains in a secret location in Islamabad after Islamists protested her acquittal and filed a petition challenging the ruling.