ISLAMABAD: A Christian girl accused of blasphemy was released on bail in Pakistan yesterday after spending more than three weeks in jail.
Rimsha Masih, dressed in a traditional baggy green shirt and dark-green trousers, was seen stepping out of an armoured vehicle before being whisked to a waiting helicopter to be reunited with her family.
Arrested on Aug. 16 under blasphemy laws for allegedly burning papers containing Qur’anic verses, her plight has attracted sharp condemnation because she is underage, illiterate and said to suffer from learning difficulties.
Paul Bhatti, Pakistan’s minister for national harmony whose brother was assassinated last year for calling for the laws to be reformed, confirmed Rimsha’s release along with her lawyer Tahir Naveed Chaudhry.
“She has been freed from the jail and was transported by a helicopter to a safe place. Her family members received her,” Bhatti told AFP.
Her bail had been posted at one million rupees ($10,400) — a huge amount for most Pakistanis.
Chaudhry said two guarantors submitted the surety bond promising that Rimsha would appear back in court when called, with the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance assisting with the paperwork.
Blasphemy is a very sensitive subject in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the 180 million population are Muslims.
Insulting the prophet Mohammed is punishable by death and burning a sacred text by life imprisonment.
An official medical report has classified her as “uneducated” and aged 14, but with a mental age younger than her years. Others have said she is as young as 11 and suffers from Down’s Syndrome.
Rimsha’s case took a dramatic development when a cleric who had accused her was arrested last week for allegedly planting evidence against her and on charges of himself desecrating the Qur’an.
Unlike in previous blasphemy cases, no Muslim clerics, political or religious parties have organised demonstrations against Rimsha.
A prominent Muslim cleric said his All Pakistan Ulema Council was prepared to offer Rimsha protection if necessary and called for a fair trial for all involved.
“All those who staged this drama and were active behind the scenes should be punished and brought to justice,” the cleric, Tahir Ashrafi, told AFP.
After her arrest in a poor Islamabad suburb, Rimsha had been held in the same jail as the convicted killer of politician Salman Tasser, murdered outside a coffee shop by his bodyguard because he called for a reform to blasphemy laws.
![]()
Christian girl freed in Pakistan blasphemy case
Christian girl freed in Pakistan blasphemy case
Burkina jihadist attacks on army leave at least 10 dead
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast: Suspected Islamist militants attacked an army unit in northern Burkina Faso Sunday, the latest in a series of alleged jihadist attacks that have killed at least 10 people in four days, security sources told AFP.
The west African country, ruled by a military junta since a 2022 coup, has been plagued with violence from militants allied to Al-Qaeda or the Daesh group for more than a decade.
Social media has been awash with speculation that the spate of attacks may have killed dozens of soldiers, but AFP has been unable to independently verify those claims.
The junta, which seized power on the promise to crack down on the violence, has ceased to communicate on jihadist attacks.
On Sunday, militants carried out a major attack on a military detachment in the northern town of Nare, two security sources told AFP.
The previous day, the Burkinabe army’s unit in the northern city of Titao was “targeted by a group of several hundred terrorists,” one of the sources said.
While the source did not give a death toll for either attack, they said part of the military base in Titao had been destroyed.
The interior minister of Ghana, which borders Burkina Faso to the south, said the government had “received disturbing information from Burkina Faso of a truck carrying tomato traders from Ghana which was caught in a terrorist attack in Titao.”
Jihadist ‘coordination’
According to the same security source, another army base in Tandjari, in the east of the country, was also attacked Saturday, and several officers killed.
“This series of attacks is not a coincidence,” the source said. “There seems to be coordination among the jihadists.”
A separate security source told AFP that a “terrorist group attacked the (military) detachment in Bilanga,” in the east of the country, on Thursday.
“Much of the detachment was ransacked,” the source said, giving a toll of “about 10 deaths” among the soldiers and civilian volunteers fighting alongside the army.
A local source confirmed the attack, adding there was damage in the town of Bilanga, and that the assailants had stayed at the scene until the following day.
Despite the junta’s vow to restore security, Burkina Faso remains caught in a spiral of violence.
According to conflict monitor ACLED, the unrest has killed tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers since 2015 — and more than half of those deaths have come in the past three years.
The west African country, ruled by a military junta since a 2022 coup, has been plagued with violence from militants allied to Al-Qaeda or the Daesh group for more than a decade.
Social media has been awash with speculation that the spate of attacks may have killed dozens of soldiers, but AFP has been unable to independently verify those claims.
The junta, which seized power on the promise to crack down on the violence, has ceased to communicate on jihadist attacks.
On Sunday, militants carried out a major attack on a military detachment in the northern town of Nare, two security sources told AFP.
The previous day, the Burkinabe army’s unit in the northern city of Titao was “targeted by a group of several hundred terrorists,” one of the sources said.
While the source did not give a death toll for either attack, they said part of the military base in Titao had been destroyed.
The interior minister of Ghana, which borders Burkina Faso to the south, said the government had “received disturbing information from Burkina Faso of a truck carrying tomato traders from Ghana which was caught in a terrorist attack in Titao.”
Jihadist ‘coordination’
According to the same security source, another army base in Tandjari, in the east of the country, was also attacked Saturday, and several officers killed.
“This series of attacks is not a coincidence,” the source said. “There seems to be coordination among the jihadists.”
A separate security source told AFP that a “terrorist group attacked the (military) detachment in Bilanga,” in the east of the country, on Thursday.
“Much of the detachment was ransacked,” the source said, giving a toll of “about 10 deaths” among the soldiers and civilian volunteers fighting alongside the army.
A local source confirmed the attack, adding there was damage in the town of Bilanga, and that the assailants had stayed at the scene until the following day.
Despite the junta’s vow to restore security, Burkina Faso remains caught in a spiral of violence.
According to conflict monitor ACLED, the unrest has killed tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers since 2015 — and more than half of those deaths have come in the past three years.
Latest updates
Recommended
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.