crime
Lynch murder for alleged blasphemy in Pakistan
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, here in March 2020, called the act a shame for his country. Photo: BK Bangash / AP / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
In Pakistan, a factory manager was brutally murdered for alleged blasphemy. Prime Minister Imran Khan is appalled – and wants to supervise the investigation himself.
Police arrested 110 people in Pakistan following a lynching for blasphemy. Police spokesman Khurram Shahzad told the German press agency that the main suspects were identified with the help of television images.
The lynching occurred on Friday in Sialkot, Pakistani Kashmir, where more than half of the world’s soccer balls are made. A sporting goods company manager from Sri Lanka was tortured and burned alive by colleagues and others for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said the incident was bringing shame to his country and that he would be overseeing the investigation himself.
A few days before the lynching, a crowd had rioted in the northwestern province of Khyber Paktunkhwa and set a police station on fire because another man had been detained for blasphemy. Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where religious fanatics repeatedly beat, shoot or burn the accused to death.