A court in Pakistan has sentenced a Muslim prayer leader and his son to life in jail for blasphemy.
The pair were found guilty in Punjab province of tearing down a poster of a gathering to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. They deny blasphemy.
A Christian leader said this was the first time a jail term had been handed down under the blasphemy law, which carries a mandatory death sentence. [BBC] Read more
Blasphemy charges: Mosque imam, son jailed for life .... A case was registered against the pair at the Daira Din Panah police station in Muzaffargarh district. They were arrested in April last year for removing a poster outside their grocery shop, advertising an Islamic event in a nearby village commemorating Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) birth anniversary.
Judge Marth’s assistant Faisal Karim told AFP by phone that according to the prosecution, the organiser of the event Haji Phool Muhammad said that the pair had “pulled the poster down, tore it and trampled it under their feet.” [The Express Tribune] Read more [via National Secular Society]
