ICC Note:

Five people in Pakistan have been sentenced to death by hanging for their involvement in the brutal murder of a Christian couple falsely accused of blasphemy. In November 2014, Shahzad and his wife were accused of desecrating a Quran. Soon after the accusation was announced, a mob of enraged Muslims attacked the Christian couple at the brick kiln where they worked and lived. The mob beat and burned the couple alive in the brick kiln’s furnace before police were able to gain control of the situation. Violence is often precipitated by accusations of blasphemy, especially when a religious minority is accused. 

11/24/2016 Pakistan (Christian Today) – Five people in Pakistan have been convicted and sentenced to death by hanging over the brutal ‘brick kiln’ murders of Shahzad and Shama Bibi in Pakistan more than two years ago.

The two illiterate Christians were seized by a mob and burned to death in the brick kiln where they worked in Kot Radha Kishen near Lahore.

They were falsely accused of desecrating pages of the Quran when they disposed of some rubbish.

The mob of about 3,000 people decided to exact its own revenge without recourse to Pakistan’s brutal blasphemy laws. The mob beat them savagely before throwing their battered bodies in the kiln furnace.

It was later suggested that there could have been a financial motive for their killing.

The deaths of the couple, who were married and expecting their fourth child, caused international outrage.

Originally, 106 people were charged with murder but soon after that 90 were acquitted, including the owner of the brick kiln.

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