Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Catholic woman who escaped death for alleged blasphemy and who now lives in Canada, has appealed for the protection of victims of blasphemy laws in her home country.

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Human rights activists were shocked after Asia Bibi dissociated herself from her autobiography, due out later in September.

MANCHESTER, England -- Asia Bibi is seeking political asylum in France less than a year after fleeing her native Pakistan for the safety of Canada.

Asia Bibi, the Catholic woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan, described herself as "a prisoner of fanaticism" in her newly published autobiography.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (CNA) -- A European Union official who played a role in working for the release of Pakistani death row inmate Asia Bibi said the outcome shows the potential of international cooperation to promote religious freedom.

MANCHESTER, England -- The "whole world" should put pressure on Pakistan to either scrap or reform its controversial blasphemy laws, said Asia Bibi, the Catholic mother freed after eight years on death row.

The news of Asia Bibi’s arrival in Canada after more than eight years on death row in Pakistan set off celebrations in many corners of the world, but few could compare with the jubilation felt by a group of Canadian volunteers who have fought for years on her behalf.

MANCHESTER, England - An Islamic militant has posted a video on the internet boasting that he has arrived in Canada to kill Asia Bibi.

MANCHESTER, England - Pakistani authorities freed Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman acquitted of blasphemy, and she has flown to Canada to join her family at a secret address.

KARACHI, Pakistan - Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said Asia Bibi remains in the country, negating speculation that she had already joined her family in Canada.

More than a month after Pakistan’s Supreme Court announced that it had confirmed its decision to acquit Asia Bibi, the 51-year-old Catholic woman is still in Pakistan under protective custody despite an offer of asylum from Canada. 

After a decade of prayer, diplomacy and legal wrangling, a persecuted Christian farmhand and her family is about to start a new life in Canada.

This story has been modified to clarify the perspective of the Canadian bishop quoted below.

Canadians generally prefer that people wait their turn, but compassion sometimes demands that we unite and jog someone to the front of the line. That time has come in the case of Asia Bibi. We should take her hand and hurry her to save haven in Canada.

The federal government’s requirement that churches and their agencies sign an attestation endorsing abortion as a human right before receiving summer job funding violates Canadian human rights in the same way Christian human rights have been violated throughout the Middle East, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer told about 300 people gathered for the annual Christians in the Middle East Benefit Dinner in Toronto Nov. 17.