23 Dec 2012

Man beaten to death by mob

10:14 am on 23 December 2012

A mob in Pakistan has stormed a police station and beaten to death a Muslim man accused of desecrating the Koran. Witnesses said his body was then set alight.

The man was earlier handed over to the police after burnt pages of the Koran were found in a mosque in Dadu district, 330km north of Karachi.

District police chief Usman Ghani told the BBC that the incident was filmed on mobile phones and the images were being reviewed to identify culprits.

Thirty people have so far been detained and six police officers have been arrested for failing to protect the man.

A BBC correspondent said blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan, where scores of people have been killed by mobs or vigilantes. Laws are often misused to persecute minorities or settle scores.