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Briton sentenced to death for blasphemy

A court in Pakistan has sentenced a Britishman to death for blasphemy for claiming to be a prophet of Islam, a prosecutorand police said Friday

The Jakarta Post
Pakistan
Sat, January 25, 2014 Published on Jan. 25, 2014 Published on 2014-01-25T09:12:38+07:00

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A

court in Pakistan has sentenced a Britishman to death for blasphemy for claiming to be a prophet of Islam, a prosecutorand police said Friday.

Mohammad Asghar, a British national of Pakistani origin, was arrested in 2010 in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, for writing letters claiming to be a prophet, police said.

The special court inside Rawalpindi'€™s Adiala Jail, where Asghar is being held, rejected defense claims that the 65-year-old has mental health problems.

Pakistan'€™s tough blasphemy laws have attracted criticism from rights groups, who say they are frequently abused to settle personal scores.

'€œAsghar claimed to be a prophet even inside the court. He confessed it in front of the judge,'€ Javed Gul, a government prosecutor, told AFP

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