Friend: Christian woman freed by court transferred south

ISLAMABAD – A friend says the Christian woman freed by Pakistan's Supreme Court three months after acquitting her on a blasphemy charge has been transferred to southern Karachi by security forces.

Aman Ullah, who says he spoke to Aasia Bibi by telephone Friday, says the 54-year-old Christian woman is being held in a room and unable to leave. He says Bibi, who spent eight years on death row, is frustrated and frightened, uncertain of when she will be able to leave Pakistan.

Ullah fled the country Friday after receiving threats from religious radicals angered by his assistance to Bibi, which began while she was on death row. There was no immediate response from the government.

Bibi hopes to be able to join her daughters in Canada, where they have been granted asylum.