Court sentences six to death and dozens of others to jail terms over killing of a Sri Lankan man accused of blasphemy.
The six men sentenced to death were convicted of murder of Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana in a case that outraged many Pakistanis. The Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore, set up inside a high-security prison, also gave life sentences to nine people, five years’ jail to one, and two-year sentences to 72, according to a statement from the public prosecutor.
Diyawadana was killed in December by workers at a sports equipment factory in Pakistan’s eastern Sialkot district where he was a manager.
Few issues are as galvanising in Pakistan as blasphemy, and even the slightest suggestion of an insult to Islam can supercharge protests and incite lynchings.
“The prosecution team worked very hard to present its case to the court and to reach this judgement,” Abdul Rauf Wattoo, the lead public prosecutor, told AFP.
“We are satisfied with the outcome.”
The special anti-terror court was established to speed up justice in high profile cases that can otherwise spend years being processed.
