ET: ISLAMABAD: A policeman shot two men in jail on Thursday, killing one accused of blasphemy and wounding another condemned to death on the same charge, lawyers and an activist said.
Christian pastor Zafar Bhatti was killed and 70-year-old British man Muhammad Asghar, who has a history of mental illness, was wounded in the attack in Rawalpindi, next to the capital, Islamabad.
In recent weeks, Bhatti had received death threats in prison from both inmates and guards, his family told a human rights group Life for All. He was being held in the same cell as Asghar.
“This is a barbaric act. There had been threats. The court should have instructed police to ensure Bhatti’s safety,” said Xavier Williams of Life for All.
Asghar, from Edinburgh, was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to death in January after a disgruntled tenant presented letter she had written saying he was a prophet.
Asghar had previously been detained under the mental health act in Britain and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, according to documents his lawyers supplied to Reuters.
His lawyers were barred from attending the last few months of his trial. The law firm asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted by extremists.
This year has seen a record number of blasphemy accusations, according to an Islamabad-based think-tank, the Center for Research and Security Studies.
Categories: Anti Islam act by Muslims, Anti-Islam Attitude, Apostasy, Asia, Behaviour, Bigotry, Blasphemy, Double Standard, Pakistan
shame shame shame
the blasphemy laws should be abolished. too many people have died in the name of the person who embodied compassion and forgave his enemies.
Easy! If you want to murder somebody simply accuse him of blasphemy.