Pakistani Girl Battered, Held Behind Bars on Blasphemy Allegations

If you haven't heard about this case by now, prepare to be outraged: A Pakistani girl, believed to be 11 or 12 years old, is being held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison and could potentially face the death penalty if convicted on blasphemy charges.

Rimsha Masih, who some say may have Down syndrome, was reportedly burning some book pages to stay warm in her impoverished neighborhood. An angry mob claimed that she desecrated the Koran. Others say that burnt pages of the Muslim holy book were planted in a bag she was carrying. The girl is reportedly traumatized and too frightened to speak in prison after being torn away from her mother and assaulted by the mob in her village.

The death sentence has never been carried out under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, but accused blasphemers have been killed in mob violence.

From Reuters:

Masih's arrest triggered an exodus of several hundred Christians from her poor village after mosques reported over their loudspeakers what the girl was alleged to have done. Emotions were running high.

A neighbour named Tasleem said her daughter saw Masih throwing away trash that included the burned religious material.

"If Christians burn our Koran, we will burn them," she told Reuters.

Other Muslims were more conciliatory.

"We protected the rest of the Christians," said Masih's landlord, Malik Amjad Mohammad. "People here support them."

Christians, who make up four percent of Pakistan's population of 180 million, have been especially concerned about the blasphemy law, saying it offers them no protection.

Convictions hinge on witness testimony and are often linked to vendettas, they complain.

In 2009, 40 houses and a church were set ablaze by a mob of 1,000 Muslims in the town of Gojra, in Punjab province. At least seven Christians were burned to death. The attacks were triggered by reports of the desecration of the Koran.

Two Christian brothers accused of writing a blasphemous letter against the Prophet Mohammad were gunned down outside a court in the eastern city of Faisalabad in July of 2010.

President Asif Ali Zardari has told officials to produce a report on the girl's arrest, which has brought protests from Amnesty International, British-based Christian group Barnabas Fund, and others.

Doctors have examined Rimsha and are expected to report on her mental capacity Tuesday.

Pakistan's Minister for National Harmony, Paul Bhatti, told the BBC she should be released, saying: "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."