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Pakistan’s 'blasphemy' girl moves to Canada
A teenaged Pakistani Christian girl, who was "falsely accused" of blasphemy has fled to Canada with her family, BBC reported.
Rimsha Masih, 14, was detained in a maximum security prison for several weeks in August 2012, after being accused of burning pages from the Quran.
Although charges against the girl were later dropped, she and her family were forced into hiding after receiving death threats.
Rimsha, believed to have learning difficulties, was arrested in a Christian area of Islamabad, after a furious crowd demanded she be punished.
A local Muslim cleric has been accused of framing her.
The teenager has now settled in Canada with her family, although their exact location has not been made public, BBC said. It is believed that Rimsha is in Toronto.
A Christian activist in Canada said the teenager was learning English and enjoying school. "They feel free," he said.
Critics have accused Pakistani courts of using the country's harsh blasphemy laws to target members of minority religions.
Basharat Masih, a Pakistani policeman who said he had been assigned to Rimsha's protection, also confirmed that they had left for Canada.
"They are being taken care of by the Canadian government and attending church services," he told Indian media.
Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the population are Muslims.
Insulting the Prophet Mohammed can be punished by death.
Even unproven allegations can provoke a violent public response and activists say the legislation is often used to settle personal disputes.
Local media said Rimsha was as young as 11, but an official medical report classified her as "uneducated" and 14 years old, but with a mental age younger than her years.
Pakistani Christian leaders last year paid tribute to Muslim clerics, members of the media and civil society for highlighting the injustice done to Rimsha.
Cleric Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti has been accused of desecrating the Koran and tampering with the evidence against her.
In 2011 politicians Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti were assassinated for demanding that the blasphemy law be reformed.
Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, remains in prison after being sentenced to death in November 2010 after other women claimed she made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed.
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