A Pakistani court has convicted and sentenced a police officer to death for the killing of a liberal governor earlier this year, a murder that led to fears the country was buckling under the weight of extremism.
The January murder in broad daylight of Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer by one of his police guards was alarming in itself, but what came afterwards was perhaps even more so: lawyers showered his killer, Mumtaz Qadri, with flowers, thousands demonstrated in his defence and even mainstream politicians did not loudly condemn the killing.
Qadri has told his trial that Mr Taseer deserved to die because of his criticism of Pakistani laws that mandate the death sentence for insulting Islam. Mr Taseer, a member of the country's ruling party, wanted amendments in the law and had defended a Christian woman sentenced to death under it. Full story...
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The January murder in broad daylight of Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer by one of his police guards was alarming in itself, but what came afterwards was perhaps even more so: lawyers showered his killer, Mumtaz Qadri, with flowers, thousands demonstrated in his defence and even mainstream politicians did not loudly condemn the killing.
Qadri has told his trial that Mr Taseer deserved to die because of his criticism of Pakistani laws that mandate the death sentence for insulting Islam. Mr Taseer, a member of the country's ruling party, wanted amendments in the law and had defended a Christian woman sentenced to death under it. Full story...
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