Rimsha's off the hook

A court in Islamabad has dropped all charges against Rimsha Masih, a young Christian girl who provoked a global outcry when she was arrested for blasphemy in August. The 14-year-old was detained when a neighbour claimed she had burned pages of a religious book. She spent three weeks on remand in an adult prison. However, she was freed on bail after witnesses said she had been framed by a local Muslim prayer leader. The case, involving an illiterate girl from a persecuted minority, sparked calls for reform of Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws, which carry the death penalty and are used frequently to settle personal scores. Under these laws, thousands are arrested each year on flimsy evidence and anyone daring to call for reform faces the threat of assassination. But the fact that the case has been dismissed isn't the only good news: Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, an imam who first gave police the burned papers as evidence against her, has been arrested for desecrating the Koran and tampering with evidence. It would be nice to think that the Islamabad High Court has set a new precedent in the treatment of blasphemy allegations, but Pakistan's blood-curdling blasphemy laws still need to be reformed. In other Pakistan-related news, British-based Islamic radicals are preparing to announce a fatwa on Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old girl shot by the Taliban, for her role in standing up to extremists.