[16] On 31 October 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted Noreen,[3] citing "material contradictions and inconsistent statements of the witnesses" which "cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution's version of facts.

[28][29] On 29 January 2019, a petition requesting an appeal against the court's decision to acquit Noreen was rejected, "lifting the last legal hurdle in the case and paving the way for her to leave the country.

"[6][30] On 11 April 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan (who had previously attacked hardliners appealing them to be calm)[31] stated that a "complication" had delayed her departure from the country.

[38][39] Aasiya Noreen was born and raised in Ittan Wali, a small, rural village in the Sheikhupura District of Punjab, Pakistan,[40][41] thirty miles outside of Lahore.

[42] Christians in the district, and elsewhere in Pakistan, are usually marginalized and face discrimination in employment, education, and social services, and relegated to public sanitation, sewer cleaning, and other low-level menial jobs.

[8][9] Noreen recounts that when they made derogatory statements about Christianity and demanded that she convert to Islam, she responded, "I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind.

[38] In an interview with CNN, local police officer Muhammad Ilyas claimed that Noreen said that "the Quran is fake and your prophet remained in bed for one month before his death because he had worms in his ears and mouth.

[51] On the other hand, the Asian Human Rights Commission published a letter that stated:[52] Five days after the incident, a local Muslim leader, Qari Salem, jumped into the matter and pressured some people in the area to claim that she committed blasphemy.

[38] A month later, Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab who investigated the affair for President Asif Ali Zardari, stated that Noreen would most likely be pardoned if the High Court did not suspend the sentence.

Pakistani Human Rights Watch researcher Ali Dayan Hasan said, "The law creates this legal infrastructure which is then used in various informal ways to intimidate, coerce, harass and persecute.

[15] Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and Pakistan's Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti both publicly supported Noreen, with the latter saying, "I will go to every knock for justice on her behalf and I will take all steps for her protection.

Several signs were erected in Sheikhupura and other rural areas declaring support for the blasphemy laws, including one that called for Noreen to be beheaded.

"[45] In December 2010, a month after Noreen's conviction, Maulana Yousaf Qureshi, the Muslim cleric of the Mohabaat Khan Mosque in Peshawar, announced a Rs.

[40] The village mosque in Ittan Wali was reportedly indifferent towards Noreen's plight; its imam, who helped register the case against her, Qari Mohammed Salim, stated that he had wept for joy on learning that she had been sentenced to death and threatened that some people would "take the law into their own hands" should she be pardoned or released.

[48] On 4 January 2011, at Kohsar Market of Islamabad, governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by Malik Mumtaz Hussein Qadri, a 26-year-old member of his security team, because of his defence of Noreen and opposition to the blasphemy law.

[74][75] Her case also achieved extensive media coverage, and American journalist John L. Allen Jr. wrote that she is "almost certainly the most famous illiterate Punjabi farm worker and mother of five on the planet".

[10] Another petition, organised by the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), obtained over 200,000 signatures and called for America's aid to Pakistan (said to be cumulatively eight billion dollars) to stop whilst persecution of minorities is allowed in that country.

[85] On 26 April 2017, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar declined a request for the early hearing of the case in the first week of June made by her lawyer Saiful Malook.

[88] On 31 October 2018, the Supreme Court in a 56-page detailed judgement authored by Nisar, with a separate concurring opinion note from Khosa, acquitted Asia Bibi of blasphemy charges after accepting her 2015 appeal against her sentence.

[94] The Supreme Court of Pakistan's ruling cited "material contradictions and inconsistent statements of the witnesses" that "cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution's version of facts.

[91] Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a televised address to the nation on the Asia Bibi verdict, issued a stark warning to the groups that were agitating against the decision.

[112] Saif-ul-Mulook maintains that the United Nations "kept me for three days and then put me on a plane against my wishes" as he "refused to leave the country without ensuring that his client was out of prison.

[20] CEO of Open Doors David Curry, said: "We are breathing a sigh of relief today ... as these charges stemmed from her Christian identity as well as false accusations against her.

The WCC has repeatedly called for justice for Asia Bibi, convicted 8 years ago on charges resulting from a village argument in which she was accused by her neighbours of blasphemy.

"[118] According to the British Pakistani Christian Association, Noreen appealed to Britain for asylum but was denied because her presence in the country might stir unrest among "certain sections of the population".

[125] A plane from the United Kingdom reportedly arrived to pick up Asia Noreen after her acquittal, but returned without her, as the Pakistani government then still had her under detention as a result of the agreement with Tehreek-e-Labbaik.

"[26] Asia Noreen's lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook called the agreement between the Government of Pakistan and the Islamists "painful", stating that "They cannot even implement an order of the country's highest court".

[131] Another TLP leader Afzal Qadri, stated that "officials told the group that Noreen would not be allowed to leave until the Supreme Court ruled on their appeal of her acquittal".

Tajani sent a letter to Noreen's husband, inviting his family to "Brussels or Strasbourg for a meeting about how I can concretely facilitate the release of your wife, Asia Bibi".

[151] In February 2020, Asia Bibi was interviewed by Open Doors in Paris, where she shared her feelings about her life and how her Christian faith helped her through her imprisonment that was a result of a false accusation.