Even to be accused of blasphemy — or for that matter, of criticizing the blasphemy law — is to be marked for death. –˜Black law” strikes again as man acquitted on blasphemy charges is killed,” from AsiaNews, March 5:
Islamabad (AsiaNews) — Muhammad Imran, a man charged with blasphemy in April 2009 and later released for lack of evidence, was gunned down in the Danada, a village near Rawalpindi. He had been accused of making insulting remarks about Prophet Mohammed during a discussion in a village cafe. However, he and another defendant were eventually set free by a court order after prosecution failed to produce evidence.
Whose prophet?
Imran was in a shop when two attackers came in and shot him dead. A third accomplice stayed outside. According to the victim’s brother Muhammad Akramm, Imran was killed by the same man from a nearby village who had originally accused him of blasphemy.
The assailant knows that simply by attaching his case to the cause of the wildly popular blasphemy laws, he can depend on support he would not otherwise have.
The murder comes two days after Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was killed by militants for opposing the controversial blasphemy law. The Minority Affairs minister was laid to rest yesterday next to his father’s grave in the village of Khushpur in a ceremony attended by more than 15,000 people….
AsiaNews also reports that Bhatti’s own sister was denied entry to his funeral Mass for “security” reasons, because Prime Minister Gilani was in attendance.
Where unbelievers are concerned, Islamic regimes have a particular knack for adding insult to injury. And injury is clearly in steady supply.