A Pakistani court has sentenced to death a Christian mother of five for blasphemy, the first such conviction of a woman and sparking protests from rights groups.
Asia Bibi, 45, was sentenced on Monday by a court in Nankana district in Pakistan's central province Punjab, about 75 kilometres west of the country's cultural capital of Lahore.
Pakistan has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy, but the case spotlights the Muslim country's controversial laws on the subject, which human rights activists say encourages Islamist extremism in a nation wracked by Taliban attacks.
Ms Bibi's case dates back to June 2009 when she was asked to fetch water while out working in the fields.
But a group of Muslim women labourers objected, saying that as a non-Muslim, she should not touch the water bowl.
A few days later the women went to a local cleric and alleged that Ms Bibi made made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
The cleric went to police, who opened an investigation.
She was arrested in Ittanwalai village and prosecuted under Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which carries the death penalty.
Sentencing her to hang, Judge Naveed Iqbal "totally ruled out" any chance that Ms Bibi was falsely implicated and said there were "no mitigating circumstances", according to a copy of the verdict.
