Campaigners across the world have helped raise Noreen's
profile,
following the successful petition for the release of Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese Christian woman who was also
sentenced to death for blasphemy last summer.
Howe was convicted in the sexual assault case —
following a graphic, high -
profile trial — stripped of his licence to practise law,
sentenced to three years in prison, acquitted on appeal, and reinstated as a practising lawyer.