Later, Ilyas met a fellow atheist in Lahore named Sayed Gillani.[1][2] They married and together founded Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan in 2012.[3][1] After failing to keep their identities secret, Ilyas and Gillani faced death threats and charges of blasphemy, which is legally punishable by death in Pakistan.[3][1] In 2015, they fled via Dubai to the Netherlands.[3][1] First, Ilyas arrived in an asylum centre in Den Helder on 30 August, and was joined by Gillani in December after friends helped him fund his escape from Pakistan.[3]