Pakistan imam held for evidence-tampering in blasphemy case

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A Pakistani cleric who submitted evidence against a Christian girl accused of blasphemy has been arrested on suspicion of evidence-tampering and desecrating the Quran, police said on Sunday.

Rimsha has been in custody since she was arrested in the poor Islamabad suburb of Mehrabad more than two weeks ago accused of burning papers containing verses from the Quran, in breach of Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws.

Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the imam of the mosque in Rimsha's area who first handed over evidence, was arrested on Saturday after his assistants told a magistrate he had added pages from the Quran to the burnt pages to strengthen the case against the girl.

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