ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- A high-powered team investigating the Rimsha Masih “blasphemy” case has found the cleric of a mosque should face trial, and has declared Rimsha as innocent due to lack of evidence.

Rimsha being taken to a helicopter to be flown to a safe place

A Christian, Rimsha, believed to be around 14 years of age and reportedly suffering from some mental disability, was allegedly seen burning pages inscribed with Koranic verses, last month.

The news of the desecration spread like wild fire, following which furious locals bashed up Rimsha and her mother. The police later arrested Rimsha on August 16 on the demand of the locals. Rimsha languished in judicial custody for weeks, after which she was released and transferred by helicopter to an undisclosed location.

The case took a new turn when a witness said in his statement before the police that the Chishti had added some burnt pages of the Holy Koran to execute his plan to expel the Christian community from the locality, police sources said.

Two other witnesses confirmed the statement, police sources said.

“According to the interim charge sheet presented in the court by the Police, Rimsha Masih the 14 year old Christian girl accused of blasphemy is innocent and the Imam, or prayer leader [Khalid Jadoon Chishti], who allegedly framed her should face trial,” said a story in The News, Pakistan (www.thenews.com.pk).

The accused Imam, Khalid Jadoon Chishti

“The investigating officer in the case, Munir Jaffry told a foreign news agency that he had informed the court that no evidence could be found against Rimsha Masih and that she was framed by the Imam of the local mosque.”

Jaffry is reported to have said, “We have also told the court that there are witnesses and evidence against the local Imam for framing a false blasphemy case against Rimsha.”

Judge Ghullam Abbas Shah had adjourned the hearing of the case until Monday and, during that, it will be decided if the Imam should face trial.

The big question now is, once Rimsha has been released, will she and her family will be safe as Pakistan has seen a string of extra-judicial killings of Christians who had been charged with blasphemy, or supported those who were charged.

Dan Wooding, 71, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 49 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and he hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States and around the world. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. Dan recently received two top media awards -- the “Passion for the Persecuted” award from Open Doors US, and as one of the top “Newsmakers of 2011” from Plain Truth magazine. He is the author of some 45 books, the latest of which is “Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in the 1970s.” To order a copy, go to: http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335474883&sr=1-1 .