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Subject:
Who said Pakistanis are civilized...
Draft Dodger
7/7/2002 11:00:17 PM
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Man stoned to death in Pakistan for blasphemy
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistan man accused of blasphemy was stoned to death by hundreds of villagers after a local religious leader called for him to be executed, police said on Saturday as a probe began. Zahid Mahmood Akhtar, 48, was dragged out of his home on Thursday night, beaten and then marched to a village square near the town of Chak Jhumra, in central Punjab province, and stoned, police said. The man, who was mentally ill, had claimed to be the "last prophet of Islam", and the mullah, or the prayer group leader of the local mosque used a loud hailer to issue a fatwa, or decree, to execute Akhtar.
The terror struck family of the victim begged for mercy and promised to banish him from the village, but the mullah stood his ground, residents said. The family buried the victim without complaining to the local police fearing reprisals against them. However police in the area said they had begun an investigation. "We have started a probe into the incident and we may order exhumation of the body to find out the cause of death," local police officer Mohammad Arif said, speaking by telephone.
Akhtar had earlier been jailed under the country's tough blasphemy laws in 1994, but freed three years later on the grounds that he was mentally ill. After his release from jail in 1997 he left his village to live with a brother in nearby Faisalabad city. Last week, he returned to his village and locals alleged he openly used blasphemous remarks. A village tribal council immediately banished him with a warning not to return, a resident Asghar Hussain said.
He said Akhtar returned to the village on Thursday and when the villagers came to know of his presence they complained to the mullah who issued the order to kill him. A court in the same area last month handed down a death sentence on a 25-year-old man who was found guilty of "blasphemous remarks" when questioned about his switching faiths two years ago. - AFP
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