Rimsha Masih 11 year Old Pakistani Christian girl was arrested on 16 August 2011
for accused burned the Koran ( death Charge ) since she
arrested millions of Christian Prayed for Rimsha
Answered of Prayers
Court grants bail to Rimsha
Bail application has been accepted against two sureties of Rs500,000 each. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD: An additional sessions judge granted bail to a Christian girl accused of blasphemy, in a case that has sparked an international outcry.
Judge Muhammad Azam Khan ordered the release of Rimsha Masih, who was arrested in a poor Islamabad suburb on August 16 accused of burning papers containing verses from the Quran.
“I accept her bail application,” Khan announced to a packed courtroom.
“The bail application has been accepted against two sureties of Rs500,000 each.”
Campaigners stepped up calls for her release after police on Saturday arrested a cleric for allegedly tampering with the evidence.
His deputy and two assistants said Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti tried to bolster the case against the girl by planting pages from the Koran among the burnt papers that were brought to him.
Rimsha was arrested in a poor Islamabad suburb on August 16 and accused of burning papers containing verses from the Holy Quran, in breach of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
On Friday morning judge Muhammad Azam Khan listened to lawyers from both sides and said he would announce his decision on the bail application later.
“The judge listened to both sides and he will give his decision at 3:00pm after Friday prayers,” Rimsha’s lawyer, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, told reporters.
Campaigners stepped up calls for her release after police on Saturday arrested a cleric for allegedly tampering with the evidence.
His deputy and two assistants said Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti tried to bolster the case against the girl by planting pages from the Koran among the burnt papers that were brought to him.
Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, insulting Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) is punishable by death and burning a sacred text by life imprisonment.
Blasphemy is a very sensitive subject in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the 180 million population are Muslims, and allegations of insulting Islam or Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) often prompt a furious public reaction.
Rights groups have called on Pakistan to reform its blasphemy legislation, which they say is often abused to settle personal vendettas.
In 2011, leading politician Salman Taseer and a Christian cabinet minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, were assassinated after calling for the law to be reformed.
Taseer’s convicted killer is being held in the same jail as Rimsha.
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