 Before the announcement of the acquittal on 31 October, Christians in Pakistan fasted and prayed.Cardinal Joseph Coutts, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Karachi, prayed that "there may not be a violent reaction from the extremists".Saif-ul-Mulook, the lawyer who defended Asia Noreen, states that "his life has not been the same since; he rarely socialises, lives in a constant state of hypervigilance and has been inundated with threats."