Pakistan: Muslim cleric who framed Christian girl for blasphemy released

It is extraordinary that Chisti was arrested at all. It is virtually inconceivable that he will be tried. If he were a Christian who had tried to frame a Muslim for blasphemy, he would already be dead, or at very least convicted and imprisoned; but justice, rough or otherwise, doesn't go the other way in Pakistan.

"Imam in girl’s blasphemy case released; Pakistan police open ‘case’ against Christian teenage boy," from Arab Times, October 13 (thanks to Twostellas):

ISLAMABAD, Oct 13, (Agencies): A Pakistani cleric who accused a young Christian girl of blasphemy and had been arrested for framing evidence was released on Friday, a day after he was granted bail by a court, his lawyer said.
The girl Rimsha Masih spent three weeks in an adult jail after she was arrested on Aug 16 for allegedly burning pages from the Quran, in a case that prompted worldwide condemnation.

She and her family remain in hiding for safety after Rimsha was released on bail and her case was sent to a juvenile court last month, following a medical report that said she was 14.

Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the imam of the mosque in Rimsha’s area, who first gave police the burned papers as evidence against her, was detained on Sept 1 for desecrating the Quran himself and tampering with evidence.

“My client has been released and he came out of Adiyala jail today,” his lawyer Wajid Ali Gilani told AFP.

Chishti was granted bail on Thursday on one surety and a bond of 200,000 rupees (about $2,000) by the court in Islamabad, he said.

The cleric was arrested after his deputy Maulvi Zubair and two others told a magistrate Chishti added pages from the Quran to the burnt pages brought to him by a witness, investigators have said.

Zubair and the two others, Mohammad Shahzad and Awais Ahmed, said they had urged Chishti not to interfere with the papers but he told them it was the only way to expel the Christians from the area.

On Aug 24 Chishti told AFP he thought Rimsha burned the pages deliberately as part of a Christian “conspiracy” to insult Muslims, and said action should have been taken sooner to stop what he called their “anti-Islam activities” in impoverished Mehrabad neighbourhood of Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Pakistani police have opened a blasphemy case against a teenage Christian boy accused of sending derogatory text messages about Islam’s prophet to neighbors in the southern city of Karachi, an official said Friday.

The 17-year-old is in hiding along with family members after neighbors angrily came to his house Wednesday to inquire about the text messages, said senior police officer Shahid Hayat.

The mob ransacked the family’s home and then lodged a formal complaint against the boy with police, Hayat said.

Under Pakistani law, opening a case does not mean that the person is charged with a crime but that police are investigating. However, people convicted of maligning the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) can be sentenced to death....

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2 Comments

| Leave a comment

miriam rove | October 15, 2012 1:14 PM | Reply

no kidding! Islamic laws are designed for men only.
m

gravenimage | October 15, 2012 1:47 PM | Reply

Pakistan: Muslim cleric who framed Christian girl for blasphemy released

It is extraordinary that Chisti was arrested at all.
................................

Exactly so. And I would have been shocked had this case actually come to trial.

The girl Rimsha Masih spent three weeks in an adult jail after she was arrested on Aug 16 for allegedly burning pages from the Quran, in a case that prompted worldwide condemnation.
................................

Compare and contrast.

How culpable could a developmentally-disabled 11-year-old girl have been in any case?

But then it came out that this vulnerable little girl was *framed* by a pious Muslim Imam who wanted to "cleanse" the area around his Mosque from filthy Infidels.

He may well get his wish even though he was caught—many Christians, including the victim's family, have already fled the area.

Meanwhile, Pakistani police have opened a blasphemy case against a teenage Christian boy accused of sending derogatory text messages about Islam’s prophet to neighbors in the southern city of Karachi, an official said Friday.
................................

And the oppression never ends. Neither—insanely—does our Jizya (in the form of "foreign aid") that we keep sending no strings attached to this vile pit.

However, people convicted of maligning the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) can be sentenced to death....
................................

But how many Muslims will even have a problem with this Hafiz (someone who has memorized the Qur'an) Imam having burnt pages from that fell book? Probably very few, since his aim was to drive away Infidels.

God, I hate Islam.

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