Pakistani girl accused of blasphemy traumatised-activist

(August 24, 2012) A Pakistani Christian girl detained on accusations of defaming Islam was too frightened to speak in a prison where she is being held in solitary confinement for her safety, an activist who said he visited her said on Thursday. Religious and secular groups worldwide have protested over last week’s arrest of Rimsha Masih, accused by Muslim neighbours of burning texts from Islam’s holy book, the Quran. The case has put another spotlight on Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law, which rights groups say dangerously discriminates against the conservative Muslim country's tiny minority groups. Christian activist Xavier William said he visited Masih at a police station where she was first held, and then this week in prison. "She was frightened and traumatised," William told Reuters. He said Mashih was in very bad shape with bruises on her face and hands which she sustained after a mob attacked her at her home in Umara Jaffar, a village on the edge of Islamabad. Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws punish defamation of Prophet Muhammad with the death penalty and blasphemy against the Qur'an with life imprisonment, but activists say vague terminology has led to its misuse.
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. 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.