A court has sentenced more than 80 workers of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) to 55 years in prison each after protests linked to the 2018 acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, one of their senior leaders told AFP.

The sentence was announced by a lower court in Rawalpindi on Thursday, said Pir Ejaz Ashrafi, a senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP).

They are all members of the TLP.

At the time Khadim Hussain Rizvi, into custody as part of a broad effort to quell the unrest.

Ashrafi said 86 members of the TLP were convicted after a trial which lasted for more than a year but he argued that the protests had been against Rizvi's arrest, not Bibi's acquittal.

"This is murder of justice and the sentences given are quite ruthless and harsh," he told AFP.

Ashrafi said the party would challenge the verdict in the Lahore High Court.

Another TLP spokesman, who confirmed the convictions to AFP but was unsure of the numbers, said the government was trying to subdue the party. "But they can never succeed as we are not standing for Khadim Rizvi or any organisation, but for a pure Islam," he said.