Pakistan transfers acquitted Christian

ISLAMABAD — A Christian woman acquitted by Pakistan’s Supreme Court eight years after being sentenced to death for blasphemy was flown Wednesday night to a facility in the capital, Islamabad, from an undisclosed location for security reasons, two senior government officials said.

Under tight security, Asia Bibi left a detention facility in Punjab province for the flight to the capital, the officials said. Troops guarded the roads leading to the airport from which she departed, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday as they were not authorized to speak to media outlets.

Authorities last month said they arrested two prisoners who were accused of conspiring to strangle Bibi and since then additional police and troops have been deployed to the facility in Punjab. Officials said Bibi will be safer at the new facility in Islamabad.

Bibi’s transfer comes a week after the high court in a landmark ruling acquitted Bibi and ordered her released, a move that triggered nationwide protests. Bibi’s release was put on hold Friday after authorities held talks with radical Islamists who want her publicly hanged.

AP/FAREED KHAN The acquittal of Christian woman Asia Bibi in Pakistan has inspired protests like this one Sunday in Karachi and resulted in extra security measures taken to protect her. The protesters’ signs read “Ready to die for Muhammad.”