Man shot dead for ‘blasphemy’ in Pak court

A man accused of blasphemy for claiming that he was a prophet has been shot dead in a courtroom in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, police officials say, the latest violence associated with Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws.

Tahir Ahmad Naseem was shot six times during a hearing in his case at a district court yesterday, police official Ijaz Ahmed told Al Jazeera.

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"The culprit accepts responsibility for killing him, and says that he killed him for having committed blasphemy," said police official Ahmed. "[The suspect] has been arrested from the scene."

Naseem had been in police custody since 2018 when he was accused of having committed blasphemy by claiming to be a prophet - a violation of Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws that can carry the death penalty for certain offences.