Pakistan Supreme Court overturns death penalty on Christian mother on death row for blasphemy.

Highest profile prisoner

Asia Bibi has been described as Pakistan's highest profile prisoner. The farm labourer has been on death row since 2010 accused of blasphemy.

On June 14, 2009, Asia was accused of uttering blasphemies against the prophet Mohammed - a charge she has always denied. She was later sentenced to death - the first woman in Pakistan to face execution for blasphemy.

The cry of blasphemy went up after a row with other labourers. Her Muslim co-workers refused to drink water she had brought for them, complaining that as a Christian she was unclean. Things became heated, and they later accused her of blasphemy.

Since then, a price has been put on Asia's head and her family have been forced into hiding.

Militants have threatened to blow her up in prison, and a cleric has offered a reward of 500,000 rupees - about £4,000 - for the assassin who puts her to death. Others have been killed for taking up her cause.

Assassinations

A lawyer, a judge and two leading politicians have been assassinated for taking a stand against the blasphemy laws.

Assassinated Governor Salman Taseer (right) with Asia Bibi

In 2011, Punjab governor Salman Taseer was murdered by his own bodyguard for calling for Asia's release and for the repeal of the blasphemy laws. And within two months the minorities minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was also assassinated.

Asia Bibi's is the most prominent blasphemy case in Pakistan. But many others have been targeted by these laws, and once the cry of blasphemy has been raised, lives are at risk. Extremists have murdered families and driven Christians from their homes. Even when the courts have dismissed the charges, Christians have been shot by vigilantes.

In October 2016, Pakistan's Supreme Court adjourned Asia Bibi's appeal against her death sentence, following the decision of a leading judge to withdraw from the trial.

That same week, 150 Muslim clerics issued a fatwa warning the government not to release Asia, and threatening to kill anyone who helped any person accused of blasphemy.

Justice Muhammad Iqbal Hameed Ur Rehman stepped back from the case. He did so on the grounds that he had earlier tried the killer of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer who was murdered for taking a stand against the blasphemy laws. Thousands poured out on the streets to hail Salman Taseer's killer as a hero.

Christians targeted