Mick Hartley

Pakistan's blasphemy law returns to the news:

A Christian convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan has died in mysterious circumstances in a jail in the southern city of Karachi.

Qamar David was serving a life sentence in Karachi's central jail for insulting the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad.

Officials say he died of a heart attack but his family say that as a fit and healthy man, this is unlikely be true….

"My client was in perfect condition the last time I met him," Qamar David's lawyer Pervez Chaudhry told the BBC.

"I have spoken to the family and we don't believe he died a natural death.

"He had been receiving threats against his life.

"I had submitted an application in this regard in court – my client had also mentioned that prison officials were involved."

No one has yet been officially put to death as a result of the law, but those accused of blasphemy have an unfortunate tendency to be killed anyway. As, of course, do those who merely speak out against the law.