Thousands of hardline Muslims today demanded a Christian mother cleared of blasphemy gets beheaded.

Asia Bibi was arrested in 2009 on charges of insulting Islam's prophet and sentenced to death the following year.

Her conviction was overturned last week due to lack of evidence and she was released in a secret location today after eight years on death row.

Furious demonstrators marched in Karachi to protest her acquittal and call for her execution.

Protesters: Thousands of hardline Muslims today demanded a Christian mother cleared of blasphemy gets beheaded

Demonstrators: Asia's conviction was overturned last week and she was released today after eight years on death row

Supporters of the Pakistani religious Islamist group Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) climb in trees to take part in a protest rally against the release of Asia Bibi

Asia Bibi was arrested in 2009 on charges of insulting Islam's prophet and sentenced to death in 2010

Why was Asia Bibi arrested? In 2009 the 54-year-old mother of five, a farm worker, went to fetch water. An argument took place after two fellow farm workers refused to drink from the same container as a Christian. Nearly a week later, the two women said Miss Bibi had insulted the Prophet Muhammad and she was charged with blasphemy. The charge carries the death penalty and Miss Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010. Her case garnered worldwide attention and brought sharp criticism of Pakistan’s blasphemy law. Advertisement

'We can sacrifice our lives but can never compromise on the honour of the prophet,' said a speaker at the protest.

The demonstration comes hours after Bibi was flown from the central city of Multan - where she was in custody until yesterday - to a 'safe' place elsewhere in Pakistan.

'She has been freed,' her lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook said in a text message to AFP. 'I have been told that she is on a plane but nobody knows where she will land.'

European Parliament president Antonio Tajani has offered Miss Bibi and her family protection in Europe.

Her lawyer has also been offered temporary asylum in the Netherlands after facing death threats - but they are still in Pakistan at the moment, friends said.

Following protests at last week's ruling, the government agreed a deal with Islamists to impose a travel ban on Bibi, and not to challenge a review of the Supreme Court's ruling.

One of the most vocal groups in the protests - the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) - called for 'mutiny' against the army's top brass and the assassination of the top court's justices.

Following Bibi's release, the TLP vowed to return to the streets if she was allowed to leave the country.

'If the promise is broken and she is sent abroad, then Allah willing, a movement will start and it will be decisive,' said TLP leader Afzal Qadri, after an earlier message from the group accused the government of reneging on the agreement.

One of the most vocal groups in the protests - the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) - called for 'mutiny' against the army's top brass and the assassination of the top court's justices

Following Bibi's release, the TLP vowed to return to the streets if she was allowed to leave the country

The demonstration comes hours after Bibi was flown from the central city of Multan where she was in custody to a 'safe' place elsewhere in Pakistan

The leader of Pakistani religious Islamist group Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Maulana Fazalur Rehman speaks to supporters during a protest rally

Foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Faisal on Thursday denied media reports that Bibi had left the country, telling AFP: 'She is in Pakistan'.

Intelligence sources also told AFP that she had not left the country.

An order for her release arrived Wednesday at the jail in Multan where she was held, a prison official told AFP.

'Asia Bibi has left the prison and has been transferred to a safe place!' tweeted Antonio Tajani, president of the European Parliament.

Another civil aviation official, in Multan, said a small plane arrived in the city with 'a few foreigners and some Pakistanis' on board to fetch Bibi.

Her case has underscored deep divisions between traditionalists and modernisers in the devoutly Muslim country.

Following protests at last week's ruling, the government agreed in a deal with Islamists to impose a travel ban on Bibi, and not to challenge a review of the Supreme Court's ruling

Pakistani lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook said Asia Bibi has been freed and taken from prison by plane

The conviction stemmed from a 2009 incident when Bibi was asked to fetch water while out working in the fields.

Muslim women labourers objected to her touching the water bowl as a non-Muslim, and a fight reportedly erupted.

A local imam then claimed Bibi insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

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

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

Bibi's husband Ashiq Masih has appealed for Britain or the United States to grant the family asylum and several governments including those of Italy and France have offered to help.

The release order arrived Wednesday at the prison in the central city of Multan, where Asia Bibi was detained, a prison official told AFP

Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even unsubstantiated allegations of insulting Islam can result in death at the hands of mobs

Her lawyer fled to the Netherlands on Saturday under threat to his life.

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini tweeted: 'I will do everything humanly possible to guarantee this young woman's future.'

Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even unsubstantiated allegations of insulting Islam can result in death at the hands of mobs.

Mere calls to reform the law have provoked violence, most notably the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, by his own bodyguard in Islamabad in 2011.

Taseer had called for Bibi's release, and his son Shahbaz tweeted 'Pakistan Zindabad' ('Long live Pakistan') following last week's ruling.

Thousands of Islamist hardliners poured onto the streets in protest after Supreme Court judges overturned Bibi's conviction last Wednesday.

Demonstrations broke out in major cities across the country in the wake of the ruling, with club-wielding protesters blocking Islamabad's main highway and barricading roads in Karachi and Lahore.

One resident in Multan, Rizwan Khan, told AFP that Bibi would not be safe wherever she went, while another, Qari Muneer, said the decision should be reversed and called for her to receive 'strict punishment'.