Pakistan says police orchestrated killing of doctor accused of blasphemy

Family of Dr Shah Nawaz can file murder charges against police officers over extrajudicial killing, official says

Pakistan’s government has said police orchestrated the killing of a doctor who was in custody having been accused of blasphemy. Officers then lied about the circumstances of his death, claiming he was killed in a shootout between police and armed men, a provincial minister said.

The statement marks the first time the government has accused security forces of what the doctor’s family and rights groups have said amounted to an extrajudicial killing carried out by police.

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Man tortured and killed in Pakistan over alleged blasphemy

Government accused of having emboldened extremists after lynching of Sri Lankan in Sialkot

A mob in Pakistan tortured, killed and then set on fire a Sri Lankan man who was accused of blasphemy over some posters he had allegedly taken down.

Priyantha Diyawadana, a Sri Lankan national who worked as general manager of a factory of the industrial engineering company Rajco Industries in Sialkot, Punjab, was set upon by a violent crowd on Friday.

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Pakistan police drop blasphemy charges against eight-year-old

Hindu boy, accused of urinating in madrassa library, was youngest Pakistani to be charged for the crime

Police in Pakistan have dropped blasphemy charges against an eight-year-old Hindu boy after media and government pressure over his arrest.

The boy, the youngest Pakistani ever to be charged with the crime, was accused of intentionally urinating on a carpet in the library of a madrassa, where religious books were kept, in July.

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