From the article at Atlas Shrugs:
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have arrested a Muslim cleric on suspicion of framing a Christian girl who was arrested under the country's controversial anti-blasphemy law, a police official said on Sunday.
Religious and secular groups worldwide have protested over the detention in August of Rimsha Masih, accused by Muslim neighbors of burning Islamic religious texts.
Police official Munir Hussain Jafri said a cleric was arrested after witnesses from Masih's village on the edge of the capital Islamabad complained about his alleged actions.
"Witnesses complained that he had torn pages from a Koran and placed them in her bag which had burned papers," Jafri told Reuters.
The cleric, Khalid Jadoon, appeared briefly in court on Sunday before he was sent to jail for a 14-day judicial remand.
A bail hearing will be held on Monday for Masih, whose case has re-focused a spotlight on Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law.
Now, we know jack squat will happen to this cleric but the world needs to come down on Pakistan over this and Christians across this world need to wise up to the persecution that is at unprecedented levels.
#Savage Imam arrested for framing 12-year-old Downs Syndrome child for blasphemy in Pakistan, ". "Pour petrol and burn these Christians"
UPDATE: Support for the murderous imam who framed the mentally challenged child:
"Pour petrol and burn these Christians," said Iqbal Bibi, 74, defending the imam on the steps of the mosque where he preaches in Masih's impoverished village of Mehr Jaffer... (update thanks to David)
It may happen yet.
This is what they do with the sharia -- they use it to persecute and many times execute non-Muslims. Here a "holy man" of Islam frames a young, mentally challenged Christian girl and her family (who were beaten and now are under arrest) for blasphemy. The whole of the sharia is blasphemous, inhuman and brutal. It's an affront to everything that is good.
The Islamic frenzy that followed led to the brutal torture and murder of a twelve-year-old boy whose body was found with his ears, nose and stomach cut off and out.
I was first to blog on the young 11-year-old girl with Down's syndrome (here) beaten and arrested and called an Atlas Action Alert: Urgent Appeal.
Muslim cleric arrested for framing girl in Pakistan blasphemy case Yahoo, September 2, 2012 (thanks to Kevin)
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have arrested a Muslim cleric on suspicion of framing a Christian girl who was arrested under the country's controversial anti-blasphemy law, a police official said on Sunday.
Religious and secular groups worldwide have protested over the detention in August of Rimsha Masih, accused by Muslim neighbors of burning Islamic religious texts.
Police official Munir Hussain Jafri said a cleric was arrested after witnesses from Masih's village on the edge of the capital Islamabad complained about his alleged actions.
"Witnesses complained that he had torn pages from a Koran and placed them in her bag which had burned papers," Jafri told Reuters.
The cleric, Khalid Jadoon, appeared briefly in court on Sunday before he was sent to jail for a 14-day judicial remand.
A bail hearing will be held on Monday for Masih, whose case has re-focused a spotlight on Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law.
Under the law, anyone who speaks ill of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad commits a crime and faces the death penalty.
Activists and human rights groups say vague terminology has led to its misuse, and that the law dangerously discriminates against the Muslim country's tiny minority groups.
Critics of Pakistan's leaders say they are too worried about an extremist backlash to speak out against the law in a nation where religious conservatism is increasingly prevalent.
Convictions are common, although the death sentence has never been carried out. Most convictions are thrown out on appeal, but mobs have killed many people accused of blasphemy.
There have been conflicting reports about Masih's age and her mental state. Some media have said she is 11 and suffers from Down's Syndrome.
A hospital said in a report she was about 14 but had the mental capacities of someone younger, and was uneducated.
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.
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.
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