A Christian woman who won her final battle against a long-running blasphemy conviction faces a race against time to flee Pakistan from powerful Islamist hardliners who want her dead.

Asia Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and was on death row for eight years until her acquittal last year.

Yesterday the Supreme Court threw out a petition seeking a final appeal in the case against her acquittal.

But she faces a perilous 48 hours as a secret operation gets under way to spirit her out of Pakistan as furious extremists immediately called for nationwide rallies which threaten to spiral into civil unrest.

A source close to Mrs Bibi told the Mail: 'The fact is, she is not safe until she gets out of Pakistan.

'There is huge corruption there, within the government, within the military, and there are powerful people who want her dead. She does not know who to trust.

'The next 48 hours are going to be critical. If the Islamists whip up a storm and block the roads to the airport, it is going to be hard for her to leave.

Activists of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan protest against the Supreme Court decision to reject an appeal against the acquittal of Asia Bibi in a blasphemy row

The daughters of Mrs Bibi pose with an image of their mother while standing outside their home in Pakistan in 2010

'We are really worried. Yes, she is grateful to all the people who have helped her, and to the court's decision, and yes of course she is looking forward to hugging her children and being free.

'But right now, she isn't, and it would not be correct to say she is feeling intense happiness. She is just very anxious and hoping and praying it all works out.'

Hafiz Ehtisham Ahmed, an Islamist activist linked to the extremist Red Mosque in Islamabad, said Mrs Bibi may not be safe wherever she goes.

'She deserves to be murdered according to Sharia', he said.

'If she goes abroad, don't Muslims live there? If she goes out of Pakistan…anybody can kill her there.'

And Mohammad Shafiq Amini, the acting chief of the hardline Tehreek-i-Labaik party, sent a video message to followers branding the court's verdict 'cruel and unjust' and calling for mass protests.

Small demonstrations were held in some cities yesterday evening, but the leaders of the Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) party - the Islamist group which has led the protests - were detained weeks ago in a government crackdown.

Chaudhry Ghulam Mustafa (left) the lawyer for a cleric who lodged blasphemy complaint against Asia Bibi, speaks to journalists during an appeal against her acquittal, in Islamabad

Pakistani security officials stand guard outside the Supreme Court as the court hears an appeal against the acquittal for Mrs Bibi yesterday

'We cannot compromise on the honour of the Prophet,' the group said in a statement released late Tuesday, calling on its supporters to demonstrate.

'Muslims, today is the time, and if you don't wake up today... then wait for your death and your tears, because then you and your generations will be weeping.'

The 53-year-old Christian woman has been in protective custody under military guard since and the government refused to reveal her whereabouts for fear of her being targeted by vigilante death squads.

Christian mother Asia Bibi spent eight years on death row after being accused of blasphemy

After winning her final appeal she can now begin a new life in Canada with her daughters who have already been given sanctuary in the country.

To quell violent demonstrations in Pakistan, Imran Khan, the prime minister and former cricketer and London playboy, had promised hardline mullahs that Mrs Bibi would not be allowed to leave the country until there was a review of the case by the Supreme Court.

Mrs Bibi's ordeal began on a hot day in 2009 when she brought water to fellow farmhands who refused to drink from the same container as a Christian woman.

Two of her fellow farm workers argued with Bibi and later accused her of insulting Islam's prophet.

The judges who ruled in her favour have bravely risked their lives to uphold Mrs Bibi's aquittal.

Mrs Bibi's case has already seen senior officials murdered for supporting her. In 2011, the Governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was gunned down by his own bodyguard.

Two months later, Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for minorities, paid for his outspoken support for Mrs Bibi by dying in a hail of bullets as he drove through Islamabad.

Dismissing the petition by extremist leaders to overturn the Bibi verdict and send her back to prison for execution, Pakistan's Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who led the panel of judges, said: 'The image of Islam we are showing to the world gives me much grief and sorrow.'

Activists of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan protest against the Supreme Court decision yesterday. The group said

Islamist protesters (pictured protesting her in November 2018) have called for the 53-year-old to be lynched. One said: 'She deserves to be murdered, according to Shariah'

Amnesty International said Mrs Bibi should be free 'to reunite with her family and seek safety in a country of her choice'.

Zoe Smith of Open Doors, which campaigns against Christian persecution around the world, said: 'We are overjoyed that justice has prevailed and are praying that this heralds a new era of equal rights for Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan.'

Mrs Bibi has not seen her two children for 10 years during her blasphemy case

She added: 'Asia and her family's safety remains of paramount importance. Many Christians will still be praying for their safety.'

Although no protesters had yet gathered, a heavy contingent of police could be seen today at a junction connecting Islamabad with neighbouring Rawalpindi, where an anti-blasphemy sit-in in 2017 paralysed the capital for weeks.

Calls for demonstrations came hours after the Supreme Court upheld its earlier decision to acquit Bibi in a case which drew worldwide attention to religious extremism in Pakistan.

Mrs Bibi, a labourer from central Punjab province, will be reunited with her two daughters, Eisham and Esha, who earlier fled to Canada where they were granted asylum.

'Is this the face of Islam that we want to show to the world?' Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa asked a packed courtroom in Islamabad as he delivered the decision, expressing frustration at the furious reaction by an extremist minority.

Blasphemy remains a massively inflammatory issue in Pakistan, where even unproven accusations of insulting Islam can spark lynchings.

Pakistani police officers arrest a man at a protest against the acquittal of Mrs Bibi yesterday

Protesters call for Mrs Bibi to be hung during protests in October last year. Yesterday's decision likely means she will be able to seek asylum in Europe or North America

Many cases see Muslims accusing Muslims, and rights activists say blasphemy charges are frequently used to settle personal scores.

Minorities - particularly Christians - are often caught in the crossfire, while mere calls to reform the colonial-era laws against blasphemy have also provoked violence.

A friend quoted Mrs Bibi last night as saying: 'I am really gratefully to everybody, now after nine years it is confirmed that I am free and I will be going to hug my daughters.'

A source close to Mrs Bibi said: 'She is not safe until she gets out. There are powerful people who want her dead'.

The ruling has infuriated Islamist protesters who say the 53-year-old 'should be murdered' for her crimes.

They have warned the mother she won't be able to escape, as there are 'Muslims everywhere who want to kill her'.

Her former lawyer, Saiful Mulook, said yesterday: 'I think at this time she is here (in Pakistan) - but by tonight, I don't know.'

He told reporters outside the court that he thought she should flee in the face of danger from the extremists.

'She deserves to be murdered according to Shariah,' Hafiz Ehtisham Ahmed, an Islamist activist linked to the extremist Red Mosque in Islamabad.

'If she goes abroad, don't Muslims live there? If she goes out of Pakistan... anybody can kill her there.'

Mr Mulook, who returned to Islamabad after fleeing the country amid death threats, called the decision a victory for Pakistan's constitution and rule of law.

The three-judge Supreme Court panel had 'insisted on very strict proofs of blasphemy' and found none, Mr Malook said.

A supporter of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), a hardline religious party, stands over an image of Mrs Bibi as they protest her acquittal last November

Pakistan's Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa who led the panel of judges dismissed the petition filed by radical religious leaders.

The extremists had petitioned the court to overturn its acquittal and send her back to prison for execution.

He said in court that Mrs Bibi's accusers were guilty of perjury and if the case had not been so sensitive, they should have been jailed for life.

'The image of Islam we are showing to the world gives me much grief and sorrow,' Mr Khosa said.

The Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) party, which led violent protests demanding Bibi's execution after her acquittal, called for its members to be ready for action in a message sent to journalists.

But most of its leaders remain in detention after a government crackdown, and few protesters could be seen at the court in Islamabad, where security appeared as normal.

That did not prevent those who did show up for the hearing from calling for violence against mother-of-two Bibi, however.

Mrs Bibi was accused of defiling the name of the Prophet Mohammed when she rejected calls from Muslim women to convert to Islam

'It's neither in accordance with Supreme Court's former verdicts nor in accordance with law, it will be dismissed Allah willing,' Mulook said.

Bibi, a Roman Catholic from Punjab province, was sentenced to death in 2010 in what swiftly became Pakistan's most infamous blasphemy case.

Blasphemy remains a massively inflammatory issue in Pakistan, where even unproven accusations of insulting Islam can spark lynchings.

Many cases see Muslims accusing Muslims, and rights activists say blasphemy charges are frequently used to settle personal scores.

Minorities - particularly Christians - are often caught in the crossfire.

The allegations against Bibi date back to 2009, when Muslim women accused her of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed, a charge punishable by death under Pakistan law.

The mother-of-two was harvesting fruit with a group of Muslim women when a row broke out over a bucket of water.

The mother-of-two (pictured) was harvesting fruit with a group of Muslim women when a row broke out over a bucket of water. The women said that because she had used a cup they could no longer touch it, because her faith had made it unclean and a row over religion ensued

The women said that because she had used a cup they could no longer touch it, because her faith had made it unclean.

Prosecutors alleged that in the ensuing row the women said Mrs Bibi should convert to Islam.

It was claimed she made offensive comments about the Prophet in response.

At her home she was given a beating, during which her accusers say she confessed to blasphemy. Police arrested her and she was sentenced to death.

Bibi has denied the charges, and her prosecution rallied international rights groups, politicians and religious figures.

Pope Benedict XVI called for her release in 2010, while in 2015 her daughter met his successor Pope Francis.