Mentally ill man accused of blasphemy stoned to death by mob in Pakistan

An enraged mob stoned to death a mentally ill middle-aged man yesterday for allegedly desecrating the Quran in a remote village in eastern Pakistan, police say.

The custodian of a local mosque says he saw the man burning the Muslim holy book inside the mosque Saturday evening and told others before informing police, according to police spokesman Chaudhry Imran. The violence took place in a village in the district of Khanewal in Punjab province.

Imran says police rushed to the scene, where a man was found surrounded by an angry crowd. Officer Mohammad Iqbal and two subordinates tried to take custody of the man but the group began throwing stones at them, seriously injuring Iqbal and slightly injuring the other two officers.

Munawar Gujjar, chief of Tulamba police station, says he rushed reinforcements to the mosque but they did not arrive before the mob had stoned the man to death and hung his body from a tree.

Gujjar says the victim was identified as Mushtaq Ahmed, 41, of a nearby village.

“The ill-fated man has been mentally unstable for the last 15 years and according to his family often went missing from home for days begging and eating whatever he could find,” he says. He says the body was handed over to the family.