Pakistan Blasphemy
Pakistani court sentences man to death for killing bank manager over blasphemy allegations
Islamabad: A Pakistani court has sentenced to death a man after he was found guilty of murdering his employer over blasphemy allegations last year.
An anti-terrorism court in Sargodha gave the order on Wednesday.
The convict, Ahmed Nawaz, who was posted as a security guard at the National Bank of Pakistan branch in Quaidabad tehsil of Punjab's Khushab district, had shot dead the branch manager, Malik Imran Hanif, in November last year, reports Dawn News.
The guard had subsequently claimed to have killed Hanif over committing blasphemy, with a video circulating on social media in which he could be heard saying that the deceased manager had "insulted the prophet", the Pakistani newspaper reported.
Police had later arrested Nawaz and charged him for the murder under the anti-terrorism law.
At the time, Khushab District Police Officer (DPO) retired Capt Tariq Wilayat had told Dawn News that the security guard and the manager had been quarrelling for some time.
On Wednesday, the ATC found Nawaz guilty under Sections 302 (Punishment of qatl-i-amd) and 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Pakistan Penal Code as well as Section 7 (Punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, reports Dawn News.
The court also sentenced the man to two years' additional punishment, besides imposing two fines of Rs500,000 and Rs100,000, respectively.
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