Pray for Pakistan

A muslim cleric who accused a young Pakistani Christian girl of blasphemy has been remanded in custody on suspicion of evidence-tampering and desecrating the Koran.

The girl, Rimsha, has been held in prison since being arrested in the poor Islamabad suburb of Mehrabad more than two weeks ago accused of burning papers containing verses from the Koran, in breach of Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws.

The imam was arrested after his deputy Maulvi Zubair and two others told a magistrate he added pages from the Koran to the burnt pages brought to him by a witness," police investigator Munir Hussain Jaffri said.

They allege Chishti said, 'You know this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area."

A medical report last week said the accused girl had a mental age of less than 14. She is being held in a high-security jail in Islamabad's twin city Rawalpindi and on Friday a judge extended her remand for another two weeks.