A Pakistani court sentenced a 60-year-old man, Mohammad...

A Pakistani court sentenced a 60-year-old man, Mohammad Yousuf Ali, to death for blasphemy after he claimed to be a prophet of God. He had been arrested in March 1997 but released on bail by order of the Lahore High Court in June 1999. Mohammad Yousuf Ali was convicted on seven counts of blasphemy under section 295C of the Pakistani Penal Code, which carries a mandatory death sentence, for allegedly defiling the holy name of the Prophet Mohammad and was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment with hard labour and a fine of 200,000 rupees (about US$3,900) to be served and paid before execution. Ali, a merchant, protested his innocence. The charge under the country's controversial blasphemy law followed a complaint from an Islamic group. Ali had claimed he was a prophet and was receiving divine revelations, according to the complaint brought more than three years ago by Mohammad Ismail Shujabadi, general secretary of the religious Tehrik Khatm-i-Nabuwat group.