PAKISTAN: Mob lynches factory manager accused of blasphemy; further proof of dangerous effects of blasphemy laws
The export manager of a factory in Sialkot in Pakistan’s Punjab province was killed by a mob on 3 December after he was accused of desecrating posters bearing the name of Prophet Muhammad.
Pakistani news outlet Dawn reports that Priyantha Diyawadana, a Sri Lankan national who was also a Hindu, was attacked by “hundreds of men and young boys” on the Wazirabad Road in Sialkot, who tortured the man to death before proceeding to burn his body.
Mr Diyawadana was reportedly killed after his colleagues at the Rajco Industry factory where he worked witnessed him tear off a piece of a poster which read “Labbaik Ya Hussain” (an expression meaning “I am here, O Hussain!” and commonly associated with Shi’a Islam).