Blasphemy row: Girl gets bail

Bail was granted to Rimsha Masih, the 14-year-old Christian girl accused of blasphemy, on Friday after her lawyer argued that there was no proof that the girl had committed the act in question.

Bail was granted to Rimsha Masih, the 14-year-old Christian girl accused of blasphemy, on Friday after her lawyer argued that there was no proof that the girl had committed the act in question.

Mukhtar-Khan-neighbour-of-a-Christian-girl-arrested-for-alleged-blasphemy-shows-the-locked-house-of-a-girl-and-vowed-will-never-allow-them-to-live-in-this-neighborhood-in-a-suburb-of-Islamabad-AP-Photo-BK-Bangash

Soon after the hearing, a local court ordered the release of the girl, who is afflicted with Down’s Syndrome, and the judge accepted her bail application.

During the hearing, Rimsha’s lawyer, advocate Raja Akram Ameen, argued that his client be released as there was no proof against her. He also told the court that a local cleric had been arrested a week ago on a statement by other clerics that evidence had been fabricated against Rimsha.

Last week, local cleric Khalid Jadoon was arrested for fabricating evidence against Rimsha. The evidence came from a fellow cleric, Hafiz Muhammad Zubair, who recorded a statement against Jadoon. Zubair told the media that his conscience did not allow him to let a “14-year-old girl be sentenced to death for no crime of her own”.

Rimsha has been in custody since she was arrested in August on an accusation of burning Quranic papers in breach of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. According to medical reports, Rimsha is a minor and has Down’s Syndrome.