After months of legal stalemate, lawyers in Pakistan expressed new hope for reuniting a 13-year-old Christian girl with her family.
Saba Masih was kidnapped and forced to marry a Muslim. Her 10-year-old younger sister Aneela was returned to the family in September 2008. The lawyers hope to circumvent the Pakistani police, who have obstructed the case against the kidnappers in every way.
On 21.02.09, a magistrate charged the suspects with kidnapping for the first time. However, the police in the village of Chawk Munda did not follow up the case by arresting the three Muslims. The lawyer is hoping for a police report.
Previous judges sided with the kidnappers because of questionable evidence or threats from local Islamists trying to retain rights to the two girls.
