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| Pakistan Hangs Guard for Assassination of Outspoken Secular Politician | Pakistan Hangs Guard for Assassination of Outspoken Secular Politician |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani authorities early on Monday hanged Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who was convicted of killing Salmaan Taseer, a governor of Punjab Province who had campaigned to change the country’s blasphemy law. | ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani authorities early on Monday hanged Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who was convicted of killing Salmaan Taseer, a governor of Punjab Province who had campaigned to change the country’s blasphemy law. |
| Mr. Qadri, who was part of the governor’s police security detail, fatally shot Mr. Taseer in 2011 in an upscale market in Islamabad, the capital. Mr. Taseer, a secular politician, was an outspoken opponent of the blasphemy law, which he and other critics said had been used to persecute religious minorities in Muslim-majority Pakistan. | Mr. Qadri, who was part of the governor’s police security detail, fatally shot Mr. Taseer in 2011 in an upscale market in Islamabad, the capital. Mr. Taseer, a secular politician, was an outspoken opponent of the blasphemy law, which he and other critics said had been used to persecute religious minorities in Muslim-majority Pakistan. |
| Mr. Qadri was hanged at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi at 4:30 a.m. on Monday, officials said. | |
| By Monday morning, there were small, scattered protests by the Sunni Tehreek, a religious-political party that supported Mr. Qadri, in some parts of Pakistan’s main city, Karachi, as well as on Shahrah-e-Faisal, the road connecting the city to the airport. Moiz Peerzada, the press director for the police in Sindh Province, which includes Karachi, said security would be beefed up in areas where larger protests were possible. Small demonstrations also took place on the main highway that connects Islamabad to Rawalpindi in Punjab, leading to an early morning traffic jam, officials said. | |
| Mr. Qadri was sentenced to death in 2011, and his petition for mercy was turned down. During his court appearances, Islamist lawyers showered him with rose petals. | Mr. Qadri was sentenced to death in 2011, and his petition for mercy was turned down. During his court appearances, Islamist lawyers showered him with rose petals. |
| The killing of Mr. Taseer pointed to deep divisions in the country over matters of faith and law. | The killing of Mr. Taseer pointed to deep divisions in the country over matters of faith and law. |