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A Christian girl with Down's syndrome has been arrested on blasphemy charges in Pakistan, accused of burning pages inscribed with verses from the Koran, police and activists said.

Police say the girl, known as Rimsha, was arrested on Thursday after she was reported to be holding burnt pages which had Islamic text and Koranic verses on them.

Christians have been forced to leave Mehrabad - an area of the capital where the girl lives with her parents - amid mounting Muslim fury.

"These Christians had sought shelter with their relatives in other parts of the city but now they are gradually returning to Mehrabad," a senior official of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, said.

He said the girl had Down's syndrome - a condition which causes various degrees of learning difficulties - and he disputed the age given by police.

"She was just 11 to 12 years old," he said, adding it was a hugely sensitive issue.

Lahore: June 22, 2012. (PCP) A Blasphemy case has been registered against one Named Ramzan Masih son of Chiragh Masih in the city sukeheki about 150 KM away Lahore under section 295 C, FIR No. 202/12 PPC on complaint of a banned Islamic group Sipha-e-Sahaba. In accordance with the fact finding of the Voice team, the victim named Ramzan Masih is a mentally retarded person that is aged about 25 years and is the only son of his parents.

“Pakistan's minority Christian community leaders have demanded an inquiry into the alleged poisoning of nine Christian nurses by their Muslim colleagues at a government-run hospital in Karachi,” Deutsche Welle reports.

“On 1st August 2009, thousands of extremist Muslims attacked the Christian town of Gojra city setting on fire more than sixty homes and burning 7 Christians alive,” the Pakistan Christian Post reports. Three years later, the victims of the attack and their families have yet to see justice as every Muslim charged for murder has since been acquitted.

“In the recent months, there have been several reports about the ongoing persecution, kidnapping and abduction of the Christian women and girls in Pakistan,” the Pakistan Christian Post reports.

“There is another subtle instrument of oppression against Christians in Pakistan, ‘land grabbing’. It is based on rent, purchase or mortgage of large plots of land including agricultural plots of their forefathers, and in Pakistan this abuse is systematically used by a number of landowners and powerful businessmen,” the Pakistan Christian Post reports.

it is a shame that the U.S. gives aid to this country and calls it an ally.

The police were initially reluctant to arrest her, but they came under a lot of pressure from a very large crowd, who were threatening to burn down Christian homes."

He said more than 600 people have fled from the Christian neighbourhood.

In her daily press briefing on Monday, spokesperson Victoria Nuland welcomed reports that President Ali Asif Zardari had directed the Interior Ministry to review the arrest of the young girl, identified by local media as Rimsha Masih, whose age has been given as between 10 and 16 years in various media reports.

“We think that the president’s statement is very, very welcome. And we urge the government of Pakistan to protect not just its religious minority citizens, but also women and girls.”

A Christian girl charged under strict blasphemy laws saw her chances of escaping a prison sentence increase yesterday after a court confirmed she was a minor suffering from a mental disability, reports Ucanews.

Medical tests determined Rimsha Masih was about 14 years old. She will face a juvenile court hearing tomorrow, said the Islamabad district court judge, Rana Jawad Hasan.

“She is underage and a minor, therefore the case should proceed under the juvenile law system,” he said.

Under Pakistani law, children under 15 must be tried in a juvenile court while those under 12 are deemed to be incapable of taking responsibility for their own actions and cannot be found guilty.

'You know this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area'

You know this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area'

VOA News

September 08, 2012
Pakistani officials say a mentally-challenged Christian girl accused of blaspheming Islam has been released from jail.

Rimsha Masih's release Saturday comes a day after a judge granted her bail, in a case that has drawn international outrage.

Rimsha, believed to be 14 years old, spent the last three weeks in jail near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, after neighbors accused her of burning pages from the Quran.

Witnesses say an armored vehicle brought her Saturday from the jail in the city of Rawalpindi to a waiting helicopter. It is unclear where she was taken, but Pakistan's minister for national harmony told the French news agency (AFP) she was flown to a safe place where she was reunited with her family. ... Read

Pakistani police have told a court that a Christian girl who spent three weeks in jail is not guilty of blasphemy and a cleric who allegedly framed her should face trial instead.

Investigating officer Munir Jafri said police could not find any evidence against Rimsha Masih, thought to be 14, who was accused in August of burning pages from the Koran in a case which sparked an international outcry.

"We have also told the court that there are witnesses and evidence against the local imam for framing a false blasphemy case against Rimsha," Mr Jafri said.

Rao Abdur Rahim, the counsel for Rimsha's neighbour Hammad Malik who had accused her along with (Imam Hafiz Mohammed Khalid) Chishti, said he was not satisfied with the police report.

"This report is based on the bad intentions of the investigators and is made to prove Rimsha innocent. But, I will fight the case and make her face trial," he told AFP.

A court in Pakistan has dropped a blasphemy case against a young Christian girl who was accused of burning pages from the Koran.

Rimsha Masih was arrested in August when she was reportedly caught holding a bag of rubbish with burnt pages in it...

She was released on bail in September and police have since told the courts she was not guilty and that a cleric who allegedly framed her should face trial instead.

A court in Islamabad has now thrown out all of the charges.

The prosecution said it would appeal the decision.

The cleric who gave police burned papers as evidence against her was detained on September 1 for himself allegedly desecrating the Koran and tampering with evidence.

He was also granted bail last month.