Bail granted to Christian girl
Source: Agencies |
September 8, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A PAKISTANI judge granted bail yesterday to a young, mentally challenged Christian girl accused of insulting Islam for burning pages of the religion's holy book. Rights activists welcomed the decision after calling for her release ever since she was arrested three weeks ago.
Judge Mohammed Azam Khan set bail at 1 million Pakistani rupees (US$10,500), a significant sum in a country where many families live on only a few dollars a day. The girl's impoverished family may need outside financial support to free her.
"We feel that this is the real victory of truth and law," said Robinson Asghar, an aide to the Pakistani minister for national harmony who has been closely following the case.
The young girl, said to be 14 years old and suffering from some form of mental impairment, was arrested after an angry mob surrounded her house in a neighborhood in Islamabad and accused her of burning pages from the Quran, an act punishable by life in prison under the country's harsh blasphemy laws. Her lawyer has denied the allegation.
In an unusual twist, police arrested a Muslim cleric from her neighborhood a week ago after a follower from his mosque accused him of stashing pages of a Quran in her bag to make it seem as if she burned them. He allegedly planted the evidence to push Christians out of the neighborhood and is now being investigated for blasphemy himself. He has denied the allegation.
The judge gave no reason for granting bail. During the lengthy hearing in an Islamabad courtroom, attorneys for the young girl argued that the accusations against the cleric had raised reasonable doubt about her culpability in the case.
"No evidence has been brought up against her for willfully committing this crime," said one of her lawyers, Pervez Khan.
Judge Mohammed Azam Khan set bail at 1 million Pakistani rupees (US$10,500), a significant sum in a country where many families live on only a few dollars a day. The girl's impoverished family may need outside financial support to free her.
"We feel that this is the real victory of truth and law," said Robinson Asghar, an aide to the Pakistani minister for national harmony who has been closely following the case.
The young girl, said to be 14 years old and suffering from some form of mental impairment, was arrested after an angry mob surrounded her house in a neighborhood in Islamabad and accused her of burning pages from the Quran, an act punishable by life in prison under the country's harsh blasphemy laws. Her lawyer has denied the allegation.
In an unusual twist, police arrested a Muslim cleric from her neighborhood a week ago after a follower from his mosque accused him of stashing pages of a Quran in her bag to make it seem as if she burned them. He allegedly planted the evidence to push Christians out of the neighborhood and is now being investigated for blasphemy himself. He has denied the allegation.
The judge gave no reason for granting bail. During the lengthy hearing in an Islamabad courtroom, attorneys for the young girl argued that the accusations against the cleric had raised reasonable doubt about her culpability in the case.
"No evidence has been brought up against her for willfully committing this crime," said one of her lawyers, Pervez Khan.
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