Acquitted. Rimsha Masih, the 14 year old mentally disable Christian girl who was arrested last August on charges of blasphemy and the released on bail has been cleared of charges.
The High Court in Islamabad, after suspending a number of its sessions, finally acquitted the girl because “nobody saw Rimsha Masih burn the pages of the Koran.”
In a 15 page long sentence, judges stressed that “blasphemy accusations constitute very delicate questions so such cases need to be handled very carefully.”
The accusations made against the little girl who suffers from mental problems by the Imam of her local mosque were in fact false.
Imam Khalid Jadoon Chishti who was later arrested, had placed the burnt pages in Rimsha’s bag to make it look as though she had committed the sacrilegious act with the intention of fomenting hate against Christians, forcing them to abandon the area.
Indeed the imam slandered the girl in order to obtain the expulsion of the Christian community and to seize their goods and property.
Paul Bhatti, the Pakistani government’s only Christian minister, commented: “Justice has been done and the law of the land has been upheld by the court. It will send out a positive image of Pakistan in the international community that there is justice for all and that society has risen up for justice and tolerance.”
The majority of the Christian community welcomed the court’s decision to acquit Rimsha Masih.
Christian and Muslim leaders applauded the judges’ decision, which is a “magnificent development” in the case, the Bishop of Islamabad, Mgr. Rufin Anthony said; however, some Islamist extremists have not hidden their resentment and accuse the government of putting pressure on judges, claiming the sentence was “manipulated”.