A Pakistani Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row has been freed from prison, her lawyer says.
The Supreme Court ruling last week sparked violent protests from Islamists and the government agreed to their demand to stop her leaving Pakistan.
News of her release led to some confusion, with reports she had been taken to another country.
But the foreign office later confirmed she was still in Pakistan.
Her husband had said they were in danger and pleaded for asylum. Several countries have offered to grant them asylum-seeker status.
Asia Bibi, a mother-of-five, was released from prison in the city of Multan, her lawyer Saif Mulook said.
Also known as Asia Noreen, she was convicted in 2010 of insulting the Prophet Muhammad during a row with neighbours.
The Pakistani government has said it will start legal proceedings to prevent her going abroad after agreeing the measure to end the violent protests.
Many of the protesters were hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws and called for Asia Bibi to be hanged.
One Islamist leader said all three Supreme Court judges also “deserved to be killed”.
A spokesman for the hardline Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) party said Asia Bibi’s release was in breach of their deal with the government.
“The rulers have showed their dishonesty,” TLP spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi told Reuters.
The deal also saw officials agree not to block a petition for the Supreme Court to evaluate Asia Bibi’s acquittal in the light of Islamic Sharia law.
White House suspends credentials for CNN’s Jim Acosta
The White House has suspended the credentials of CNN’s chief White House correspondent hours after a testy exchange with US President Donald Trump.
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A White House staffer tried to grab the microphone from CNN’s Jim Acosta at the press conference on Wednesday.
But press secretary Sarah Sanders said access was removed because the reporter put “his hands on a young woman”.
The president said the CNN journalist was a “rude, terrible person” at the press event.
Mr. Acosta challenged Mr. Trump’s recent assertions about a migrant caravan heading to the US from Central America.
A female staff member then attempted to take the microphone from the journalist.
“That’s enough, that’s enough,” the president said to Mr. Acosta, before telling him to sit down and to put down his microphone.
“CNN should be ashamed of themselves, having you work for them,” he said. “The way you treat Sarah Huckabee [Sanders] is horrible.”
Ms. Sanders, in a statement posted in a Twitter thread, said the White House would “never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job”.
“The fact that CNN is proud of the way their employee behaved is not only disgusting, it’s an example of their outrageous disregard for everyone, including young women, who work in this Administration,” she said.
“As a result of today’s incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.”
The press secretary later shared a zoomed in clip of the incident, saying they “will not tolerate the inappropriate behaviour clearly documented in this video”.
Mr. Acosta posted a tweet saying he was stopped by the Secret Service from entering White House grounds.
Journalists decried the move to revoke Mr. Acosta’s access.
CNN issued a statement on Twitter saying the ban was “in retaliation for [Jim Acosta’s] challenging questions”.
“In an explanation, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders lied,” it said. “She provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association – a group that represents the press corps at the presidential residence – called the decision “out of line” and “unacceptable”.
“We urge the White House to immediately reverse this weak and misguided action.”
