Pakistani court grants month's bail to 2 radical clerics

Associated Press

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A defense lawyer says a Pakistani court has granted a month's release on bail to two clerics, leaders of a radical party behind widespread protests last year against the acquittal of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case.

Afrasiab Khan says the Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered that Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his deputy, Pir Afzal Qadri, be released on medical grounds for a month.

Rizvi's Tehreek-e-Labbaik party had long demanded the execution of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy charges last October by Pakistan's Supreme Court.

Bibi, who had since her acquittal been under guard at a secret place, was finally allowed to leave Pakistan last week to join her daughters in Canada. She'd spent eight years on death row for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad.