Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Asia Bibi's escape from Pakistan death row 
 
 A Pakistani court has overturned the death sentence of a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy, a case that has polarised the nation. 
 
 Asia Bibi was convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her neighbours. 
 
 She always maintained her innocence, but has spent most of the past eight years in solitary confinement. 
 
 The landmark ruling has already set off violent protests by hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws. 
 
 Demonstrations against the verdict are being held in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan. Clashes with police have been reported. 
 
 The Red Zone in the capital Islamabad, where the Supreme Court is located, has been sealed off by police, and paramilitary forces have been deployed to keep protesters away from the court. 
 
 Image copyright ARSHAD ARBAB Image caption Demonstrations have been held in several cities including Peshawar 
 
 Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who read out the ruling, said Asia Bibi could walk free from jail in Sheikupura, near Lahore, immediately if not wanted in connection with any other case. 
 
 She was not in court to hear the ruling, but reacted to the verdict from prison with apparent disbelief. 
 
 "I can't believe what I am hearing, will I go out now? Will they let me out, really?" AFP news agency quoted her as saying by phone. 
 
 What was Asia Bibi accused of? 
 
 The trial stems from an argument Asia Bibi, whose full name is Asia Noreen, had with a group of women in June 2009. 
 
 They were harvesting fruit when a row broke out about a bucket of water. The women said that because she had used a cup, they could no longer touch it, as her faith had made it unclean. 
 
 Prosecutors alleged that in the row which followed, the women said Asia Bibi should convert to Islam and that she made three offensive comments about the Prophet Muhammad in response. 
 
 She was later beaten up at her home, during which her accusers say she confessed to blasphemy. She was arrested after a police investigation. 
 
 Fallout to continue 
 
 By Secunder Kermani, BBC News, Islamabad 
 
 The court delivered its verdict quickly, no doubt aware of the sensitivity of the case and the danger of a violent reaction to it. 
 
 Asia Bibi's lawyer, closely flanked by a policeman, told me he was "happy" with the verdict, but also afraid for his and his client's safety. 
 
 Even after she is freed, the legacy of her case will continue. Shortly after her conviction a prominent politician, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, was murdered for speaking out in her support and calling for the blasphemy laws to be reformed. 
 
 The killer - Mumtaz Qadri - was executed, but has become a cult hero with a large shrine dedicated to him on the outskirts of Islamabad. 
 
 His supporters also created a political party - campaigning to preserve the blasphemy laws - which gathered around two million votes in this year's general election. 
 
 It's the same party which many fear could be responsible for violent unrest in the coming days. 
 
 What is blasphemy in Pakistan? 
 
 Laws enacted by the British Raj in 1860 made it a crime to disturb a religious assembly, trespass on burial grounds, insult religious beliefs or intentionally destroy or defile a place or an object of worship, punishable by up to 10 years in jail. 
 
 Several more clauses were added in the 1980s by Pakistan's military ruler Gen Zia ul-Haq: 
 
 1980 - up to three years in jail for derogatory remarks against Islamic personages 
 
 1982 - life imprisonment for "wilful" desecration of the Koran 
 
 1986 - "death, or imprisonment for life" for blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad 
 
 What did the Supreme Court say? 
 
 The judges said the prosecution had "categorically failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt". 
 
 The case was based on flimsy evidence, they said, and proper procedures had not been followed. The alleged confession was delivered in front of a crowd "threatening to kill her". 
 
 The ruling heavily referenced the Koran and Islamic history. It ended with a quote from the Hadith, the collected sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, which calls for non-Muslims to be treated kindly. 
 
 Why is this case so divisive? 
 
 Islam is Pakistan's national religion and underpins its legal system. Public support for the strict blasphemy laws is strong. 
 
 Hardline politicians have often backed severe punishments, partly as a way of shoring up their support base. 
 
 But critics say the laws have often been used to get revenge after personal disputes, and that convictions are based on thin evidence. 
 
 The vast majority of those convicted are Muslims or members of the Ahmadi community, but since the 1990s, scores of Christians have been convicted. They make up just 1.6% of the population. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption There is widespread support for severe punishments for blasphemers in Pakistan 
 
 The Christian community has been targeted by numerous attacks in recent years, leaving many feeling vulnerable to a climate of intolerance. 
 
 Many of the attacks are motivated by blasphemy cases, but others have come in reaction to the US-led war in Afghanistan. 
 
 No-one has ever been executed under the laws, but some people accused of the offence have been lynched or murdered. 
 
 Asia Bibi, who was born in 1971 and has four children, was the first woman to be sentenced to death under the laws. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Salman Taseer had taken up Asia Bibi's cause and called for reform of the blasphemy laws 
 
 Internationally, her conviction has been widely condemned as a breach of human rights. 
 
 What happens now? 
 
 There are fears that there could be a violent response to her acquittal. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Asia Bibi's husband and daughter say they fear for their safety in Pakistan 
 
 As with her previous trials and appeals, large crowds gathered outside the court in Islamabad on Wednesday demanding her conviction be upheld and the execution carried out. 
 
 She has been offered asylum by several countries and is expected to leave the country. 
 
 Her daughter, Eisham Ashiq, had previously told the AFP news agency that if she were released: "I will hug her and will cry meeting her and will thank God that he has got her released." 
 
 But the family said they feared for their safety and would likely have to leave Pakistan. ||||| Pakistani lawyers who are contesting the case against Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman convicted of blasphemy, speaks to media outside the Supreme court, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Oct.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Pakistani lawyers who are contesting the case against Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman convicted of blasphemy, speaks to media outside the Supreme court, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. Pakistan’s top court in much-awaited landmark ruling on Wednesday acquitted the Christian... (Associated Press) 
 
 ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's top court on Wednesday acquitted a Christian woman who was sentenced to death in 2010 on blasphemy charges, a landmark ruling that could ignite mass protests or violence by hard-line Islamists. 
 
 Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar announced the verdict to a packed courtroom and ordered Asia Bibi released. She has been held at an undisclosed location for security reasons and is expected to leave the country. 
 
 The charges against Bibi date back to a hot day in 2009 when she went to get water for her and her fellow farmworkers. Two Muslim women refused to drink from a container used by a Christian. A few days later, a mob accused her of blasphemy. She was convicted and sentenced to death. 
 
 The mere rumor of blasphemy can ignite mob violence and lynchings in Pakistan, and combatting alleged blasphemy has become a central rallying cry for hard-line Islamists. Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, was shot and killed by one of his guards in 2011 for defending Bibi and criticizing the misuse of the blasphemy law. The assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, has been celebrated as a martyr by hard-liners since he was hanged for the killing, with millions visiting a shrine set up for him near Islamabad. 
 
 Ahead of the verdict, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a hard-line cleric who has brought tens of thousands of people into the streets for past rallies, called on his supporters to gather in all major cities to express their love for the prophet and to protest if Bibi is released. Authorities have stepped up security at churches around the country. 
 
 Shortly after the ruling, hundreds of Islamists blocked a key road linking the city of Rawalpindi with the capital, Islamabad. Islamists in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi and in the northwestern city of Peshawar were also gathering for the protests. Similar rallies were held elsewhere. Police urged demonstrators to disperse peacefully. 
 
 Bibi's family and her lawyer say she never insulted the prophet. In previous hearings her attorney, Saiful Malook, pointed to contradictions in testimony from witnesses. The two Muslim women who pressed charges against Bibi denied they quarreled with her, saying her outbursts against Islam were unprovoked. 
 
 Critics of the blasphemy law have said it is used to settle personal scores or to attack minority communities. Bibi's case was closely followed internationally amid concern for Pakistan's religious minorities, who have frequently come under attack by extremists in recent years. 
 
 Bibi's husband hailed Wednesday's verdict. 
 
 "I am very happy. My children are very happy. We are grateful to God. We are grateful to the judges for giving us justice. We knew that she is innocent," said Ashiq Masih. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, contributed.
– Authorities in Pakistan are braced for massive protests after the acquittal of a Christian woman who was sentenced to death in 2010 for alleged blasphemy against Islam. Asia Bibi was accused of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed in a 2009 argument with farmworkers who refused to drink water from a container used by a Christian, the BBC reports. Judges on Pakistan's top court ruled that she had been sentenced on flimsy evidence, and a "confession" had been delivered in front of an angry crowd that was threatening to kill her. Her family says she never insulted the prophet. The judges ordered the release of Bibi, a mother of five who has spent most of the last eight years in solitary confinement. She was moved to an undisclosed location and is expected to leave the country, the AP reports. "I am very happy. My children are very happy," husband Ashiq Masih said. "We are grateful to God. We are grateful to the judges for giving us justice. We knew that she is innocent." Hardline Islamist clerics have called for rallies across the country to protest Bibi's release and security has been stepped up at churches. (In 2011, Pakistan's minister for religious minorities and the governor of Punjab province were assassinated for supporting changes to the country's blasphemy law.)