PAKISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BLASPHEMY

A judge in Pakistan's Lahore District and Sessions court sentenced Liaquat Ali to death for blasphemy. Ali was arrested in 2012 on accusations of blasphemy by a Mughalpura area prayer leader. Traditionally, Pakistan's blasphemy laws made it a crime to insult religious beliefs or destroy religious objects or places of worship, punishable up to 10 years in prison.
In 1986, an amendment (295-C) to the law made blasphemy against the Muslim Prophet Muhammad a capital offense. Human rights groups, such as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, note that most of those accused of blasphemy are accused for desecration of the Koran, and critics say the law is often used for vengeful purposes. Ali's codefendant, Abdul Shakoor, was acquitted.