Criminal police bodyguard hanged over shot dead governor. Hard-line activists protested to show their support him.
Pakistan hanged the police bodyguard who shot dead Punjab’s governor over his opposition to blasphemy laws.
Criminal police bodyguard hanged over shot dead governor.
Mumtaz Qadri killed Salman Taseer in Islamabad in 2011, a high profile murder that shocked the country.
He hailed as a hero by some Islamist groups, and thousands of hard-line activists protested to show their support him.
After news of his execution, crowds again took to the streets in protest.
Security forces put on high alert and a heavy police presence, including riot police.
The area around Qadri’s home in Islamabad, the AFP news agency reports.
Officials said Qadri executed at 04:30 local time (23:30 GMT) at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.
He trained as an elite police commando.
And assigned to Taseer as his bodyguard, shot the politician in broad daylight at an Islamabad market in January 2011.
He claimed it was his religious duty to kill the minister.
Who was an critic of Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws and supported liberal reforms.
Islamist groups grow in influence in recent years and several high profile blasphemy cases.
Qadri was lauded by religious conservatives, and in his first court appearance was showered with rose petals by supporters.
He never expressed any regret for the killing.
His brother appeared to reassert that when he told the AFP news agency about his final meeting with Qadri.
“I have no regrets,” Malik Abid told AFP. “We started crying, but he hugged us and chanted ‘God is great,'” he added.
Criminal police bodyguard hanged over shot dead governor.
That August, Salman Taseer’s son, Shahbaz Taseer, abducted in Lahore. His whereabouts are still unclear.
Blasphemy an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan and critics argue that blasphemy laws misused to settle personal scores and unfairly target minorities.
The 2011 murder of Taseer, who was the governor of Punjab, was one of Pakistan’s most high-profile assassinations.
He was one of the most prominent liberal politicians in the country and a close associate of Asif Ali Zardari, who was then the president.
Known to a outspoken critic of the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, arguing that they discriminated against religious minorities, and sought liberal reforms.
He called for a pardon for Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death in 2010 for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
