Macron invites Asia Bibi to live in France

Asia Bibi (Photo: Aid to the Church in Need)

French President Emmanuel Macron has offered Asia Bibi asylum in France after she revealed that she wanted to move there.

Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was freed from death row in 2018, has been living in Canada with her family since being granted asylum there last year.

During a visit to France last week to promote her new book, Enfin Libre (Free At Last), she expressed a desire to move to the country, saying she had "found a lot of love" there.

She plans to move to the country to continue working with Anne-Isabelle Tollet, the French journalist who co-authored Enfin Libre.

The invitation to move to France came after Bibi met Macron at the Elysee Palace on Friday. She told reporters she was "honoured".

Last week, Bibi, who spent nearly a decade in prison for blasphemy, said she wanted to speak up for other victims of injustice in her native Pakistan.

She told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that her faith had helped her endure the difficulties of her imprisonment.

"During my detention, I held the hand of Christ. It is thanks to him that I have stayed standing. Do not be afraid," she said.

She also paid tribute to the media for highlighting her plight.

"It is thanks to the media that I am still alive," she said.