Saturday 15 April 2017

University student brutally killed over alleged blasphemy allegations

Murdan: A Pakistani university student has been lynched over alleged blasphemy accusations. 23-year-old Mashal Khan student of Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan was killed by fellow students for allegedly “publishing blasphemous content online”, local police confirmed. This incident occurred within the premises of university.
While detailing about the incident, Mardan’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Mohammad Alam Shinwari stated that the deceased student, Mashal, was accused of running Facebook pages “which allegedly published blasphemous content.” The mob seems to be enflamed by rumors that Mashal had posted blasphemous content.

In line with an eye witness, two students of Mass Communication, Mashal and Abdullah, were attacked because there were rumors that they were “promoting the Ahmadi faith on Facebook.” After being informed about the commotion, police reached the scene and were able to rescue Abdullah from the mob. Agitated students first surrounded Abdullah and made him recite verses from the Holy Quran. He denied the accusations of being an Ahmadi.

After the police were able to save Abdullah, the enraged mob approached Mashal who was in the hostel at that time, an eye witness revealed. Soon after the incident, a video footage emerged showing Mashal lying on the floor surrounded by men. He can be seen motionless and wounded, while men around him could be seen kicking his lifeless body and beating it with wooden planks.“The charged students then wanted to burn his body,” DIG Shinwari revealed.

Blasphemy laws carries the death penalty in Pakistan. In many cases, an accusation alone is enough to inspire mob violence against suspects to kill.

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