Pakistan's blasphemy vigilantes

Blasphemy vigilantes track down victimSTORY HIGHLIGHTSDespite being cleared of blasphemy, Mohamed Imran was killed by vigilantesSome observers see climate of rage around blasphemy laws as part of rise in fundamentalism in PakistanPunjab governor Salman Taseer and minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti also killed for criticizing blasphemy laws Talahore, Pakistan (CNN) -- Mohamed Imran had been accused, jailed, tried and cleared: if anything, society owed him a debt as a man wrongfully accused. But his crime was blasphemy. He was meant to have said something derogatory about the prophet Mohammed, so in Pakistan justice worked a little differently. Two weeks after he returned to his small patch of farmland on the rustic outskirts of Islamabad, his alleged crime caught up with him. Two gunmen burst into the shoe shop where he was sat talking to a friend. Imran tried to duck, to seek cover behind the man next to him -- terrified so greatly for his own life that he perhaps forgot about those around him. But the gunmen found their target and Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws claimed another victim. His brother Ikram told CNN: "When I saw him lying there, I felt the blood leave my body, and that I was now alone." When I saw him lying there, I felt the blood leave my body, and that I was now alone.
--Ikram Imran, brother of blasphemy vigilante victim

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