AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Now to Pakistan, where a young Christian girl is behind bars. She's been accused of burning pages of a book used to teach children the Quran. Defaming Islam is illegal in Pakistan. It can result in the death penalty.

As NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from Islamabad, the case has drawn international attention to religious intolerants and the influence of Muslim extremists on the law there.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken)

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: A Pakistani priest leads dozens of Christians in prayer on the roof of a compound where they sought refuge. The Muslim call to prayer wails from a mosque behind them.

(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)

FRAYER: Until last week, these Pakistani Christians lived side-by-side with Muslims in peace and in the tight quarters that come with extreme poverty. Then, a local mullah got word of a rumor. A Christian girl named Rimsha Masih, while burning trash, may have ignited pages of Quranic verse. The girl's priest, Father Boota, says a Muslim neighbor claims to have witnessed it.

FATHER BOOTA: (Through translator) He was the one who raised the alarm and then there is a shopkeeper. He also started shouting and he also started making call: Get the Christians and wage a jihad against them.

FRAYER: Sebha Farooq, another Christian, looked out her window in horror.

SEBHA FAROOQ: (Through translator) These people really thrashed the girl. They tore her clothes and beat her up.

FRAYER: The priest says he convinced her family's landlord to call police for Rimsha's own safety.

BOOTA: (Through translator) First, it was a group of 500 people, which soared to 1,000 and they were trying to get the custody of that girl from the police. But the police refused and they were wanting to stone her to death.

FRAYER: Rimsha is in jail awaiting trial. Neighbors say she's 11 years old and mentally disabled, possibly with Down syndrome. Police says she's 16, an adult by law, but they won't let anyone see her to verify. Farzana Bari is a human rights expert who waited outside the jail for hours before being turned away.

FARZANA BARI: If she's a mentally challenged child, then there shouldn't be any question of registered a case against her.

FRAYER: Amnesty International is also calling on Pakistan to ensure the girl's safety. The group's South Asia director, Polly Truscott, on Skype from London, wants the government to reform its blasphemy laws.

POLLY TRUSCOTT: They're too broadly formulated and, as a result, this enables mobs spurred on by local preachers and others to continue abusing the system to settle personal disputes.

FRAYER: Most blasphemy cases here are eventually tossed out, ruled as grudges or the result of property disputes. But this law is on the books and anyone who criticizes that could be in danger. Last year, the governor of Punjab province, Salmaan Taseer, was gunned down by his own bodyguard for suggesting reforms to the blasphemy law. So police have reason to tread carefully, says Cyril Almeida, a Pakistani journalist at Dawn newspaper.

CYRIL ALMEIDA: It's really about fear, quite honestly. I mean, there's a lot of pressure going to be on the police. You may be and I may be seeing it from the side of human rights organizations. They're just trying to get access and ascertain the facts, but then there's this mob willing to gather out there if, somehow, they perceive that this girl is now being given a chance to wriggle out of the punishment that's due her.

FRAYER: Last month, police failed to stop a mob from beating to death a blasphemy suspect outside a station in southern Punjab. Police are currently protecting Rimsha from a similar fate. But under Pakistani law, and depending on her true age, she could face the death penalty anyway.

Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Islamabad.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

This is NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.