Imam who accused Christian girl of blasphemy freed by court

A Muslim cleric charged with falsely accusing a Christian girl of blasphemy was today freed by a Pakistani court for lack of evidence. Khalid Jadoon Chishti was arrested last year on charges of planting pages of the Quran in a shopping bag containing burnt paper to strengthen the blasphemy case against Rimsha Masih, a mentally challenged teenager, according to PTI report.

Chisti's lawyer Wajid Gilani said a court in Islamabad had accepted his plea that there was not enough evidence to prosecute him. Masih was booked under the controversial blasphemy law and spent three weeks in jail before she was released when it emerged that the imam of the mosque in her neighbourhood had falsely implicated her. Three witnesses who testified against the cleric had later backtracked from their statements, The Express Tribune reported today. They said police had "forced" them to testify against Chishti.

Masih and her family went into hiding after she was released by by a court due to fears of being targeted by militants.

They secretly shifted to Canada and are currently living at an undisclosed location. Rights groups say the controversial blasphemy law, introduced in the 1980s during military dictator Zia-ulHaq's regime, are often misused to settle personal scores or to persecute members of minority communities. a International rights bodies have called for changes in the law but no government can dare do so due to the fear of militants. Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab, was killed in 2011 by his own police guard for criticising the blasphemy law.