A young Pakistani Muslim entered a courtroom in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, shooting and killing a fellow Muslim who was being tried for blasphemy, a police officer said. It was not immediately clear how the assailant, identified as Khalid Khan, managed to enter the court amid stringent security measures.
The attacker was subsequently arrested.
The man on trial, Tahir Shamim Ahmad, had claimed he was the prophet of Islam and was arrested two years ago on blasphemous charges, according to Azmat Khan, the police officer. Ahmad died before he could be transported to the hospital.
Muhammad Sajjad / AP
Blasphemy is an extremely controversial topic in Pakistan, where people convicted of the crime can be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty. But crowds and individuals in Pakistan often take the law into their own hands.
Although the authorities have not yet served a blasphemous death sentence, even the mere accusation can cause riots. National and international human rights groups say blasphemy allegations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and resolve their personal issues.
A Punjab governor was killed by his own guard in 2011 after defending a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, accused of blasphemy. She was acquitted after spending eight years on death row in a case that caught the attention of the international media. Faced with death threats from Islamic extremists upon her release, she flew to Canada to reunite with her daughters last year.
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