ISLAMABAD / PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – The United States urged Pakistan on Thursday to take action for the murder of a US citizen in a crowded courtroom as he faces blasphemy trial.
An ambulance carrying the body of a man, who police say was killed by a gunman during a procedure at a judicial complex, moves from the Khyber Medical College (KMC) morgue in Peshawar, Pakistan, July 29, 2020. REUTERS / Fayaz Aziz
Tahir Ahmed Naseem was shot several times at close range when he appeared in the northwest city of Peshawar on Wednesday.
“We urge Pakistan to take immediate action and seek reforms to prevent such an embarrassing tragedy from happening again,” the US State Department said in a tweet.
When Naseem’s arraignment began before the judge, a young man in the room pulled out a pistol and shot him in the head, officials and witnesses said. The young man was arrested on the spot.
On Thursday, supporters of a hardline Islamist group held a protest rally in Peshawar calling for the release of the suspected shooter, saying he had defended his religion.
The aftermath of the murder, captured on video and shared on social media, showed Naseem slumped into a chair next to the judge’s bench, while other chained prisoners, some in bloody clothing, were pulled out of the room.
“The young man who shot him had no remorse, and said he saw Prophet Muhammad in a dream the night before,” Latif Afridi, who heads the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, told Reuters.
Afridi questioned how the man managed to bring a weapon to the court since all the visitors are thoroughly checked at three different points.
“It is likely that someone who can pass without being searched, perhaps a police officer or a lawyer, will hand the gun over to the shooter after he entered,” he said.
According to the charge sheet against Naseem, seen by Reuters, the American was in contact with a student from an Islamic school in Pakistan on Facebook and told him that he was a messiah sent by God.
Naseem later met the student in Peshawar, after which the police arrested him and charged him with various crimes, including insulting the prophet Muhammad, which can carry the death penalty in Pakistan.
Reports from Umar Farooq in Islamabad and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Editing by Gibran Peshimam and Nick Macfie
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