Hundreds of people in Islamabad, Pakistan gathered outside the home of a Christian girl with Down syndrome after she was seen with burned pages of Islamic text, which led to her arrest on blasphemy charges,
Fox News reported.
The crime of defaming Islam, the Koran, or the Prophet Muhammed is a capital offense in Pakistan and is punishable by death. The girl, who some officials said was 16 and others said is younger, will make a court appearance before the end of the month, Fox reported.
Christians were forced to temporarily flee the girl’s neighborhood after the incident ratcheted up religious tensions.
The girl, whose name is Rimsha, was arrested Thursday after hundreds of angry neighbors heard she had allegedly burned religious papers and gathered outside her house.
Some police officials doubt reports that Rimsha burned parts of the Koran. A shopping bag she had contained various religious and Arabic-language papers that had been partly burned, but no Koran, Fox News reported.
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