A Pakistan court on Tuesday threw out all charges against a Christian
girl accused of blasphemy for allegedly burning pages of the Koran in a
case that drew international condemnation.
Rimsha Masih, who
could have faced life in prison if convicted of the charges, spent three
weeks on remand in jail after being arrested on August 16.
She
was released on bail in September but she and her family have been in
hiding under government protection, fearful for their lives.
Although
the decision to drop the case was welcomed, it is unlikely to pave the
way for imminent reform of Pakistan's blasphemy legislation, which
activists say is too often used to settle personal disputes.
The prosecution said it would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court.
Blasphemy
is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the
population are Muslims, and under the country's penal code insulting the
Prophet Mohammed can be punished by death.
Even unproven allegations can provoke a violent public response.
In
a 15-page judgement, Islamabad high court chief justice Iqbal Hameed ur
Rahman threw out the case registered against Rimsha and urged Muslims
to be "extraordinary careful" while levelling such allegations.
He
said putting Rimsha on trial would have seen the courts "used as a tool
for ulterior motive" and "to abuse the process of law".
Defence
lawyer Tahir Naveed Chaudhry told AFP that the family was "delighted"
the case had been dropped, but said they "still live in fear".
Rimsha and her family were moved to an undisclosed location after her release on bail on September 8.
An official medical report classified her as "uneducated" and 14 years
old, but with a mental age younger than her years. Others have said she
is as young as 11 and suffers from Down's Syndrome.
Paul Bhatti,
the only Christian member of Pakistan's federal cabinet, welcomed the
"historic" move, saying justice had been done.
"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," he told AFP.
He paid tribute to Muslim clerics,
members of the media and civil society for also playing a "positive
role" in highlighting the injustice done to Rimsha and said it would
deter others from levelling false accusations.
There is a separate
case against cleric Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, who was granted bail
last month after being accused of allegedly desecrating the Koran and
tampering with the evidence against Rimsha.
On August 24, Chishti
told AFP he thought Rimsha burned the pages as part of a Christian
"conspiracy" and demanded action against what he called their
"anti-Islam activities" in the impoverished Mehrabad neighbourhood of
Islamabad.
Pakistani political analyst Hasan Askari said the
courts had acted fairly, but that Rimsha's fate remains uncertain
because of the poor track record on how society treats people accused of
blasphemy.
Neither did he expect any immediate prospect of legal reforms.
"The
government does not have the capacity to withstand the pressure of
these religious groups especially at a time when elections are very
close," he said.
In 2011, Pakistani politicians Salman Taseer and
Shahbaz Bhatti were assassinated for demanding that the blasphemy law be
reformed.
And despite international outcry, Asia Bibi, a
Christian mother of five, sentenced to death in November 2010 after
women claimed she made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed
remains in prison, pending an appeal process.
