Before leaving for Canada due to security reasons last year, Aasia had spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy.
She is visiting France where she is promoting her new book Enfin Libre! (Finally Free) written with French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet.Aasia told the BBC that she hoped she would be able to return to Pakistan one day.
She recalled how, in 2009, a dispute with her neighbours culminated in a group of local women accusing her of insulting the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
“My husband was at work, my kids were in school, I had gone to pick fruit in the orchard,” she said. “A mob came and dragged me away. They made fun of me, I was very helpless.”
Aasia said she was happy that the whole world was praying for her.
“I found out from my husband that the whole world was praying for me. And that even the Pope had prayed for me. That made me happy. And I found out the whole world was praying for my misery to end.”
“That made me feel that their prayers would definitely free me.”
Aasia called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to free anyone unjustly accused or convicted of blasphemy and to ensure that the charges are investigated properly.
“Innocents should not be punished for no reason and people who are innocent, in prison, should be freed,” she said.
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