Tahir Ahmed Naseem, 47, died on Wednesday in the northwest city of Peshawar after a member of the public entered the courtroom and opened fire in front of the judge, According to officials, his attacker was arrested at the scene.
Naseem was prosecuted on blasphemy charges after allegedly claiming to be a prophet, a crime punishable by death or life imprisonment under Pakistan’s penal code.
In a statement, the United States State Department said the officials were “shocked, sad and outraged” by Naseem’s death. The statement said Naseem had been “lured to Pakistan from his Illinois home by individuals who later used Pakistan’s blasphemy laws to catch him.” He offered no further details. Naseem had been receiving consular assistance since his arrest in 2018.
According to a Peshawar police spokesman, the alleged killer told Naseem that he was an “enemy of religion” and that he deserved to be killed before opening fire.
Police are investigating how the suspect was able to enter the courtroom with a loaded weapon. Security guards are usually stationed outside court buildings, and police officers guard individual court rooms.
Weapons are difficult to obtain in Pakistan: civilians cannot buy a weapon or carry one without a valid license. Members of the public are also generally not allowed to enter local courtrooms, such as the place where Naseem was shot.
Blasphemy links violence
The case has once again highlighted tensions over the country’s strict blasphemy laws, which have been linked to a series of violent acts, including at least one deadly shooting in recent years.
International human rights groups have widely condemned the law, which critics say is disproportionately used against minority religious groups and to persecute journalists who criticize the Pakistani religious establishment.
There are also fears that hardline Islamist groups may end up hailing the Naseem attacker as a hero, as they have done in the past to murderers of people associated with blasphemy allegations.
His killer, Mumtaz Qadri, immediately turned himself in to the police and was later executed. But for many hardline Islamists, Qadri was a martyr, and his grave became a sanctuary for those who supported Asia Bibi’s death sentence.
At the time, Rabia Mehmood, a former Amnesty International researcher, said Bibi’s case became so divisive because the Pakistani government had not taken steps to curb “the campaign of hatred and violence incited by certain groups in the country.”
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