Police station stormed

Koran allegedly burned: Pakistanis lynch man

The man was beaten to death and set on fire by residents of the town of Madyan.(Bild: AP/Naveed Ali)

A man has been beaten and burned to death by a crowd in Pakistan for allegedly burning a Koran. The mob had taken the man from a police station on Thursday, where he was being kept for his protection.

Local residents in the area of Madyan in the Swat Valley had previously detained the man and claimed that he had burned the Koran. "The police intervened, rescued him and took him to the local police station," a police source told AFP news agency.

But the crowd, which had been incited in local mosques, stormed the police station and pelted the man, who was not from the region, with stones.

Doused with oil and set on fire
Warning shots fired by the police only served to incite the crowd further, the report continued. The mob overpowered the police officers, dragged the man out and beat him to death with sticks. They later poured oil over his body and set him on fire.

Incidents like this are not uncommon in Pakistan. At the end of May, a Christian who had allegedly burned pages from the Koran was lynched by a mob in the eastern Pakistani region of Punjab. Also in Punjab, in February 2023, a crowd beat to death a Muslim who was accused of desecrating the Quran.

Blasphemy often a pretext
The accusation of "blasphemy" is an extremely sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan. Blasphemous offenses can be punished with the death penalty, although this has never yet been carried out. However, even the slightest suspicion of insulting Islam can trigger protests and lead to lynchings. According to human rights activists, the accusation is also often used as a pretext to settle personal feuds.