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Iraq
Iraq, Syria sign joint security pact
2024-05-14
[Rudaw] The interior ministries of Iraq and Syria on Sunday signed a security agreement covering several areas including border control and combating drugs.

"A memorandum of understanding for joint security cooperation between the two countries was signed," Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari said during a presser in Baghdad with his Syrian counterpart Mohammed Khalid al-Rahmoun.

"The agreement included a number of articles related to cooperation in combating drugs, border control, extradition of wanted individuals, combating organized crime, and money laundering," Shammari added.

The Iraqi minister noted that there is "good" intelligence cooperation between Baghdad and Damascus and the "two countries have joint work in exchanging information."

"Cooperation in all fields, especially security, was discussed, as we suffered from terrorism in our countries, and there is a criminal phenomenon managed by drug trafficking and human trafficking gangs, so we signed a memorandum of joint security cooperation," Rahmoun said.

Previous security operations between the neighbours "have resulted in dismantling some networks and seizing quantities of drugs," according to Rahmoun.

They will hold a comprehensive meeting on regional security cooperation on July 22.

Iraq shares a long border with Syria, spanning over 600 kilometers. Only part of it is controlled by the government in Damascus. The northern portion is held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Iraq has built a concrete wall along stretches of the border to prevent smuggling and the movement of gangs, including the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 (ISIS), which seized control of vast swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land in 2014.
Did they consult Israel on the latest technology?
The holy warrior group facilitated the movement of fighters, captives, and weapons between the two countries.

Rahmoun noted that Iraq has achieved "great successes in eliminating ISIS," however he warned that the group is still active in hotspots in Syria where it carries out periodic attacks.

The smuggling of narcotics across the border is a growing problem. The interior ministers of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 met in Amman in February and announced they would cooperate to combat narcotics and the spread of illegal substances.
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Iraq
Duhok bishop faces legal complaint over Facebook post on Islam
2023-02-19
[Rudaw] A bishop in Duhok is facing a legal complaint over a Facebook comment that was insulting to Islam.
“Know your place, dhimmi unbeliever!”
The bishop has apologized and said he was not responsible for the post.

Two weeks ago, a post appeared on the Facebook page of Bishop Bahzad Mziri of the Anabaptist Church in Duhok. The post made comments about Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, that were considered insulting and derogatory and stirred up public ire.

Duhok’s Directorate of Endowment and Religious Affairs and the public prosecutor intend to take the bishop to court.

"We are determined to file a complaint tomorrow morning against this man," Mohammed Khalid, general director of the endowment directorate told Rudaw on Saturday. Their complaint will assert that Bishop Mziri "disrespected Islam and the Prophet of Islam."

Khalid’s office has informed the Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs, which, he said, had spoken to the person at the ministry in charge of Christian affairs, securing their support. "Many priests and bishops are also set to be present on Sunday at Duhok's court," he said.

Bishop Mziri has apologized. He posted a statement on Facebook in which he said his account had been "hacked" and someone else commented in his name.

The bishop told Rudaw's Nasir Ali on Saturday that someone who is an admin of his account had posted the comment without his approval. He also said that he is currently in Jordan and is ready to go in front the judge when he is back in the country.

Mziri added that he has been involved in many acts promoting religious tolerance in Duhok and he is not ready to destroy the city's coexistence.

Despite Mziri’s apology, Khalid of the endowment directorate said they will proceed with the court case.
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Olde Tyme Religion
San Francisco imam claims Egypt’s Morsi killed by ‘Zionist agents’
2019-06-30
[IsraelTimes] Khalid Siddiqi says those allegedly responsible for the former Egyptian president’s death were ’working for Satan’.

An imam in the Socialist paradise of San Francisco
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
 claimed the death of former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi during a court hearing this month was the work of "Zionist agents."

Morsi, a member of the Moslem Brüderbund, was Egypt’s first democratically elected leader. He was ousted and imprisoned by the Egyptian military in 2013.

Egyptian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported Morsi died of a heart attack, but the Moslem Brüderbund said he was killed, a claim echoed by ally Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
"Mohammed Morsi, the only democratically elected president of Egypt, was killed by those Zionist agents," Khalid Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of San Francisco
...that’s Dr. Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Sidiqqi to you, bub. The highly educated Dr. Siddiqi earned his Ph.D. in Quranic Studies from the University of London and M.A. from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. He has been active in the U.S. since 1983, lectures at several local colleges, and has his very own website here, which connects to his YouTube channel. Dawa are him...
said in a June 21 sermon.

Video of the sermon was released by the Middle East Media Research Institute monitoring group.

Siddiqi lamented that there were many of these "Zionist agents" in the Moslem world "nowadays" and said they were "working for Satan and becoming the disciples of Satan."

He also said Morsi "was only trying to help humanity by bringing the truth of Islam."

"This individual was trying to do simply that thing but obviously, the forces of evil, as they did not allow the president who was democratically elected in Algeria to continue, they did not not allow Morsi as well," Siddiqi said.

He appeared to be referring to the 1991 Algerian parliamentary elections, which were canceled after an Islamist party appeared on track to a sweeping victory, setting off a decade-long civil war.
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India-Pakistan
Woman, her infant son allegedly murdered by in-laws in Karachi
2018-05-24
[DAWN] A 22-year-old woman and her infant son died after falling from the eighth floor of a building in Delhi Colony area of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
 on Wednesday, hospital officials said. The dear departed were allegedly pushed from the balcony by the woman's mother-in-law, police said.

Frere cop shoppe SHO Rana Abdul Latif told Dawn that three-month-old Abdul Hadi went titzup while his mother, Ramsha, 22, succumbed to her wounds during treatment at Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre.

"It appears to be a double murder case of the mother and her infant son," said Karachi South-SSP Sarfraz Nawaz Sheikh.

The senior officer said Ramsha and Rizwan Ahmed had married a year-and-half ago against the will of Ahmed’s parents, therefore she was not accepted by his family.

Initially, the couple moved to Dubai, but some six months back they had returned to Karachi and started living with Ahmed’s parents at the family’s apartment in Delhi Colony, where the incident happened.

Also read: When in-laws become outlaws

When Ramsha and her infant son fell from the eighth floor of the building some women gathered around them. There, the maimed woman told them that she was thrown from the balcony of the flat by her mother-in-law, police said.

Initially, SSP Sheikh said that police would lodge FIR into the double murder case "after getting a proper statement of the woman’s parents and witnesses."

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
 later in the day, Frere police registered the murder case on the complaint of the dear departed woman’s father, Mohammed Khalid, and tossed in the clink
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
 the woman’s mother-in-law Nasrin Bibi and her brother-in-law Iqram over charges of involvement in the double murder, SHO Latif told Dawn.

The deadly incident, which was first portrayed as a case of suicide by the woman's in-laws, triggered fear in the densely-populated neighbourhood.

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Africa North
Egypt goes about the task of reforming the religious rhetoric
2017-07-31
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi finally announced the establishment of the Egyptian supreme or national council for combating terrorism and extremism.

This is an enlightening path and a blessed move. There is unquestionable determination to work and exterminate extremism that produces awful violence that targets markets, streets, schools, mosques, churches and airports. Terrorists are monsters who operate like zombies that rose from their dark graves.

The council is chaired by the president himself. Among the members are the parliament speaker, al-Azhar Sheikh, the Coptic pope and state officials such as the education, awqaf, interior and intelligence ministers. The aim of the council is to set plans, execute them and supervise them.

All this is good and it’s rather a duty and a requirement. This is the work of the state and the society. We wish Egypt luck and success and we hope Moslems and the entire world succeed in winning over Islamized terrorism and the culture behind it.

Task before al-Azhar
Previously, Sisi had informed al-Azhar officials that religious reform is a must and said he will quarrel with them before God if they don’t achieve the task.

The determination and honesty of the responsible Moslem man, Sisi, are beyond doubt. However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
 the task of religious reform is not a military one which he can simply approve and it gets done. We wish it were so, as that would have been much easier.

The issue is also not just about Egypt, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, Iraq, Pakistain, Indonesia or Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
. It is about defeating the culture of terrorism and extremism ‐ and I emphasize extremism here. It is a global task that concerns all people considering the news about terrorism coming daily from across the world.

There are many Arabic, Islamic and even European initiatives and centers that work to confront Islamized terrorist cultures, whether Sunni or Shiite, on the ideological and media levels. It’s worth noting that Sunni ones are more than Shiites. The diversity of such work is of course good and beneficial.

My only note is that we focus on media and quantitative activity at the expense of qualitative and intellectual activity when the problem’s core is educational and not relevant to media activity.

I’ll be more frank and ask: Is there a serious and specialized discussion before politicians and media figures talk about concepts such as Sharia, governance, Caliphate, secularism, international law and its moral obligations, women’s rights etc.?

This is where we must begin, as late author Khalid Mohammed Khalid put it.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Five Fighters From Hizbullah Killed, Dozens Of IS/al Nusra Gunmen Died During Repel Attack In Outskirts Of Brital
2014-10-06
After reading the story above from Ynet, here is the view from Lebanon, a reminder that what is seen depends on who is looking:
[AnNahar] Five members of Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
 were killed and dozens of gunnies died in festivities that erupted on Sunday between them in the outskirts of Brital.

Gunmen came from al-Kalamoun and attacked a Hizbullah position in the outskirts of Brital, that summoned Hizbullah to bring additional reinforcements for its fighters and an alert in the army's position in Brital.

MTV explains that the attack was on a Hizbullah position named Ain al-Saat position and that al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
 gunnies came from Assal al-Ward

"Hizbullah 'thwarted the attack' and two of their fighters died and others injured, while al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
 has dozens of dead and injured fighters," it added.

Sunday night a Hezbollah security official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deaths of five fighters after festivities around the town of Nabi Sbat in eastern Leb.

Several media reported that Mohammed Khalid Hamza Suhaib, a leader in al-Nura front, died after the festivities in the outskirts of Brital and his corpse was transported to al-Rahmat hospital in Arsal.

"Hizbullah posts in the mountains around al-Nabi Sabat, east of Baalbek, were attacked by gangs who came from Qalamun" in Syria, a Hizbullah source told AFP.

"Hizbullah returned fire, inflicting heavy losses among the attackers," it added.

Residents from al-Nabi Sabat who fled the fighting told AFP they saw Hizbullah convoys picking up several maimed fighters from the group during the festivities.

Al-Mayadeen stated that the goal of the gunnies who tried to infiltrate the eastern mountain range is to open a gap between the outskirts of al-Qalamun and al-Zabadani.

According to al-Manar, Hizbullah killed dozens of bully boyz and maimed others in Ain al-Saat and was able to take them out of the eastern mountain range.

"Cautious calmness dominates on the areas which witnessed festivities in the eastern mountain range," it added.

LBCI stated that, "the gunnies attacked a Hizbullah position in the outskirts of Brital, in the eastern mountain range, where violent festivities took place."

"A group of the IS attacked a Hizbullah position in al-Mahafer in the outskirts of Brital and injuries from both sided were recorded," it added.

VDL stated that Syrian gunnies dominated for 30 minutes on the Hizbullah position in the outskirts of Brital, but they withdrew afterward.

After few minutes LBCI said: "The festivities expanded between Hizbullah and the IS to Younine in the outskirts of Baalbek and Hizbullah brought in reinforcements and a number of civilians participated in the fight."

"Hizbullah used 'an intense firing strategy' to force the bully boyz to withdraw after they had came from several destinations of the eastern mountain range," VDL added.

According to VDL, the army announced an alert in its positions in Brital and Hawr Taala and declared that its units didn't intervene in the clash.
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India-Pakistan
Ismaili man shot dead on Superhighway
2013-09-17
[Dawn] A young man was rubbed out on the Superhighway in a suspected targeted attack within the remit of the Sachal cop shoppe.

They said the victim, 40-year-old Badaruddin Dhalwani, was attacked and killed near the Pakistain Hotel.
At 40, you're no longer a youth. Maybe they should say he was stricken down in his prime.
Sohrab Goth DSP Mohammed Khalid said that every Sunday the victim used to come to an apartment building of the Ismaili community on the Superhighway where he had an office called 'Choice Property'. He was leaving his office in a car for his home in Garden East on Sunday evening when suspects, also travelling in a car, shot him.

As a result of the shooting, said DSP Khalid, the victim lost control of the car which fell down into a ditch, causing his death.

He said the victim belonged to the Ismaili community.

The body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. According to medico-legal officer Dr Abdul Haq, the victim sustained a single bullet wound in the chest. He said that there were also marks of injuries on his head which could have been caused when the car fell into the ditch, as stated in the police report.

Rangers detain 14 suspects

The Pakistain Rangers, Sindh, nabbed
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
 14 suspects on Sunday while conducting raids in different areas of the city, said a Rangers spokesperson.He said that the held suspects included 'hit mans and extortionists belonging to police groups and Lyari
...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....
gang-war'. They were detained after raids were conducted at 100 Quarters in Korangi, Mujtaba Town, Johar Mor, Surjani Town and Yousuf Goth.

Police detain 117 suspects

The Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
 police in separate raids detained 117 suspects, including an alleged hit man. The rest of the suspects were detained on charges of being absconders, narcotics peddlers and robbers.
Link


India-Pakistan
Ahmadi man among seven shot dead in city
2013-08-23
[Dawn] Seven people, including a Customs official who was also a member of the Ahmadiyya community, were bumped off in targeted attacks in the city on Wednesday, police said.

They said that two armed motorcyclists targeted Zahoor Ahmed Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
, 46, outside his home in Mujahid Colony in Orangi Town. The attackers also killed his neighbour and friend Noorul Wahid, a non-Ahmadi, when he tried to save him.

Both victims sustained multiple bullet wounds and were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced them dead.

Mominabad SHO Ahmed Butt suspected personal enmity behind the murder. Mr Kayani was an employee of the Customs and father of seven, he said.

However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
 a spokesperson for the Anjuman-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistain (AAP) said in a statement that Mr Kayani was a member of the party and had become a victim of 'religious hatred'. His friend was killed because he tried to resist the assailants, he added.

The AAP members were being targeted in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
 but the government had failed to curb such killings, although it was the state's responsibility to provide protection to all its citizens irrespective of their faith, he said.

Two killed in Sohrab Goth attack

A shopkeeper and a boy were killed when gunnies fired indiscriminately in a Sohrab Goth market on Wednesday in what police described as an extortion-related attack.

The police said that gunnies resorted to firing in the Super Market near the terminal of 4-L bus and, as a result, shopkeeper Mohammed Yousuf, 40, was struck down in his prime while Atta Rehman, 12, died during treatment at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Sohrab Goth SHO Mohammed Naeem said that two other boys, identified as Irshad, 12, and Sajjad, 10, also sustained bullet wounds. Irshad was admitted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), while the whereabouts of Sajjad were not known, he added.

"The incident might be extortion related," said Sohrab Goth DSP Mohammed Khalid.

Besides, he said two groups of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain were also fighting with each other to establish their control in the area and the infighting had intensified following the killing of Sher Khan Mehsud in Manghopir a few days ago.

Man rubbed out in Korangi

The owner of a poultry shop was rubbed out in Korangi Industrial Area on Wednesday.

Police said Rana Mohammed Arshad, 30, was standing outside his shop in P&T Colony when two armed motorcyclists targeted him and rode away. He was taken to the JPMC where doctors declared him dead.
He's dead, Jim!
The victim originally hailed from Mandi Bahauddin.

The family told the police that they would get an FIR lodged after burial there.

Teenager found rubbed out

A teenage boy was found rubbed out near Pakhtunkhwa Chowk in Korangi Industrial Area's Sector-8-A.

Police said the body of Umar Ali, 17, was found on late Tuesday night.

The victim's mother told the police that he left home at 11pm to see a friend, Shoaib Bengali.

The family lodged an FIR in which they expressed their suspicions about the possible involvement of Shoaib in the killing.

The police said Shoaib had criminal record and they suspected that the victim was also involved in some criminal activity.

They said that in the same area, four gunnies shot and maimed a shopkeeper, Dilawar Khan, and the spent bullet casings found from both spots had matched.

Robbers kill man

A young man was rubbed out when he resisted a robbery bid in Saeedabad on Wednesday, police said.

They said that the man, identified as Malang Abbas, 40, suffered bullet wounds near 100 Quarters Road in Yusuf Goth. He was taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi where he died.

Saeedabad SHO Zafar Iqbal said the victim was a 'commission agent'.

Young man rubbed out

A young man was rubbed out in a Gulistan-e-Jauhar locality, police said.

SSP-East Imran Shaukat said that Ashraf Musharraf, 21, had a scuffle with someone near Pehlwan Goth who fired at him. He sustained multiple bullet wounds and was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced him dead
He's dead, Jim!
He sold kebabs on a pushcart.
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India-Pakistan
Rimsha case: Cleric acquitted for want of evidence
2013-08-18
[Dawn] A lawyer says a Pak court has dismissed charges against the holy man who had accused a young Christian girl of blasphemy and had been tossed in the slammer
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
 for allegedly forging evidence against her.

Wajid Ali Gilani said a district judge in Islamabad granted his motion to acquit his client Khalid Chishti, ruling that the prosecution had not brought forward sufficient evidence to convict the Imam (holy man).

Gilani is the counsel for Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the Imam of the mosque in Rimsha's area, who first accused the minor girl of burning pages of the Holy Koran last year and later gave police the burned papers as evidence against her.

Weeks later, he was arrested for allegedly planting pages of a Koran in a shopping bag containing burned papers and ash.

Chishti was later granted bail and released in October last year on a surety and a bond of 200,000 rupees (about 2,000 dollars) by the court in Islamabad.

The girl, who now has taken refuge in Canada along with her family, had spent three weeks in jail before being released on bail after the sudden twist in the case.

Moreover, The Islamabad High Court (IHC) in November 2012 threw out all charges against the girl after the episode had garnered the attention of local and international media.
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India-Pakistan
Imam in Rimsha Masih blasphemy case released
2012-10-13
[Dawn] A Pak holy man who accused a young Christian girl of blasphemy and had been incarcerated
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
 for framing evidence was released on Friday, a day after he was granted bail by a court, his lawyer said.

The girl Rimsha Masih spent three weeks in an adult jail after she was incarcerated
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
 on August 16 for allegedly burning pages from the Koran, in a case that prompted worldwide condemnation.

She and her family remain in hiding for safety after Rimsha was released on bail and her case was sent to a juvenile court last month, following a medical report that said she was 14.

Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the imam of the mosque in Rimsha's area, who first gave police the burned papers as evidence against her, was tossed in the calaboose
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
 on September 1 for desecrating the Koran himself and tampering with evidence.

"My client has been released and he came out of Adiyala jail today," his lawyer Wajid Ali Gilani told AFP.

Chishti was granted bail on Thursday on one surety and a bond of 200,000 rupees (about 2,000 dollars) by the court in Islamabad, he said.

The holy man was incarcerated
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
 after his deputy Maulvi Zubair and two others told a magistrate Chishti added pages from the Koran to the burnt pages brought to him by a witness, Sherlocks have said.

Zubair and the two others, Mohammad Shahzad and Awais Ahmed, said they had urged Chishti not to interfere with the papers but he told them it was the only way to expel the Christians from the area.

On August 24 Chishti told AFP he thought Rimsha burned the pages deliberately as part of a Christian "conspiracy" to insult Mohammedans, and said action should have been taken sooner to stop what he called their "anti-Islam activities" in impoverished Mehrabad neighbourhood of Islamabad.
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India-Pakistan
No evidence found against blasphemy accused Rimsha: police
2012-09-23
[Dawn] In a startling development on Saturday, the Islamabad police claims to have found no evidence or witness to prove that blasphemy accused girl Rimsha Masih was seen desecrating holy papers, according to a copy of the revised charge sheet available with Dawn.com.

In the charge sheet, the police claim that the holy man of a nearby mosque, Mohammad Khalid Chishti, was guilty of tampering with evidence by adding holy pages into a shopping bag the girl had been carrying. The police claim the investigation proves the holy papers had also been burnt.

The evidence is now being sent to a forensic science laboratory in Lahore for further examination.

The Islamabad police submitted the charge sheet in a district and sessions court today.

"We have also told the court that there are witnesses and evidence against the local imam for framing a false blasphemy case against Rimsha," Investigating Officer Munir Jafri told AFP.

Judge Ghulam Abbas Shah adjourned the case till Monday, Sept 24 to decide on whether Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti should face trial.

Rao Abdur Rahim, the counsel for Rimsha's neighbour Hammad Malik who had accused her along with Chishti, said he was not satisfied with the police report.

"This report is based on the bad intentions of the Sherlocks and is made to prove Rimsha innocent. But, I will fight the case and make her face trial," he told AFP.

Rimsha and her family, who fear for life after the blasphemy charges, were moved to Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location since her release on bail on Sept 8.

The district attorney, who signed the charge sheet along with a note of objections, observed: "Had Khalid Chishti burnt the Holy Koran, prior to adding them in the evidence, he could be declared accused under 196 PPC."

According to the charge sheet, no witness has so far identified the place where Rimsha was alleged to have burnt the holy papers.

The police also claim that, in reality, it was Rimsha's six year old younger sister Savera who had come to throw the garbage in front of the house of one Maqbool Ahmed. This account has been testified by two witnesses.

The police are also accusing the complainant of hiding the actual facts from the police.

The police investigation further states that the burnt holy papers were first seen by Mehreen Noor, Maqbool's daughter, who had told the same to her mother. The burnt pile of papers was then sent to the holy man Mohammad Khalid Chishti through Mehreen Noor.

The police also says that Chishti is "an educated person and knows religion and the sanctity of the Holy Koran."

Moreover, the police accuse Chishti of deliberately tearing two papers from the Holy Koran to add them into the pile of burnt papers, and preparing a false testimony. Chishti had also signed the testimony as a witness.

The police report further claims that Rimsha, a minor Christian girl, is illiterate and her mental age is not according to her actual age, which is 14.

The case has gained huge attention because of the girl's age and questions about her mental capacity. It is also a rare instance where someone has been held responsible for an apparently false accusation of blasphemy.
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India-Pakistan
Still no bail for Pakistan 'blasphemy' girl
2012-09-04
A Pakistani court on Monday adjourned by another four days possible bail for a Christian girl accused of blasphemy in a case that has sparked international criticism.

Judge Muhammad Azam Khan has repeatedly delayed bail proceedings for Rimsha Masih, who was arrested last month accused of burning papers containing verses from the Quran in breach of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, punishable by death. Khan on Monday again put back the hearing until September 7 following a request from a lawyer representing Rimsha's original accuser, neighbour Hammad Malik.
Khan really, really doesn't want to die...
Rao Abdur Raheem, the lawyer, said the case should not be heard to show solidarity with a strike being observed by the bar association in neighbouring Punjab province, the largest organisation of its type in the country.

Rimsha's lawyer said the case against his client had collapsed.

'The prosecution has completely failed. There is nothing left in this case now,' Raja Ikram, a lawyer representing Rimsha, told reporters after the adjournment.

On Saturday, police arrested the cleric who originally submitted the burnt papers after his deputy and two assistants said he tampered with the evidence. They said Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti planted pages from the Quran among the burnt pages brought to him by a witness to beef up the case against her.
The whole point is to keep the Christians in their place. How that happens is less important...
Campaigners have demanded Rimsha's immediate release.

'Rimsha must be released now. The evidence has been proved false so there is no reason to keep her behind bars any more,' Shamaun Alfred Gill, a spokesman for the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) told AFP.

According to a medical report, Rimsha is around 14 years old with a mental age below her true age, but some reports say she suffers from Down's Syndrome.
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