Paul KeenanPakistani court convicts resident
A Pakistani court has sentenced a British citizen sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Having lived in Pakistan for a number of years, 65-year-old Mohammad Asghar was arrested in 2010 after he allegedly wrote letters to police officers claiming to be a prophet. The content of the letters led to a charge of blasphemy, which was confirmed by a court in Rawalpindi on January 23.
Mr Asghar’s lawyer had mounted a defence of mental illness in the case, but this was rejected by a medical panel which examined the suspect. Further, the man’s lawyer alleges that once the case got underway, she was barred from the court by the judge, making a guilty verdict inevitable. An appeal to the sentence has been announced.