RAWALPINDI: A man who admitted assassinating a Pakistani provincial governor to defend the country’s controversial blasphemy laws appeared in a prison court for a preliminary trial hearing Monday.
Bodyguard Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri has confessed that he gunned down his boss, Punjab governor Salman Taseer, on January 4 because he objected to the politician’s wish to amend the blasphemy law, which carries the death penalty.
Taseer’s killing has met with mixed reactions in Pakistan, with many from the country’s increasingly powerful conservative religious quarter praising the gunman for acting to silence the outspoken moderate politician.
Rallies have been held in honour of Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who was showered with petals at earlier court hearings after he admitted to the shooting. Monday’s hearing was held in private inside high-security Adiyala prison in Rawalpindi, a garrison city bordering capital Islamabad, with no media present.
Some 35 Qadri supporters from an Islamic youth group gathered outside the jail, reciting Koranic verses & shouting: “Allah is the Greatest”, “We salute you Malik Mumtaz Qadri” & “Long Live Malik Mumtaz Qadri Long Live Punjab police”.
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