Outrage at ‘blasphemy’ killings

Cardinal Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, has called for the international community to pressurise the Government of Pakistan to review its blasphemy law after a young Christian couple were burned alive by a mob in Punjab Province on 4 November, writes Ellen Teague.

Shahzad Masih and his pregnant wife, Shama Bibi, parents of four young children, were beaten, had their legs broken and were  thrown into a brick kiln in front of thousands of people at Kot Radha Kishan after rumours they desecrated the Qur’an. “I am shocked by the immense barbarity of this act,” Tauran said.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and the Bishop of Wakefield, the Revd Tony Robinson, lit candles and prayed in St Anne’s Cathedral in Leeds on Tuesday for the couple and their unborn daughter. The British Pakistani Christian Association is organising a rally outside 10 Downing Street on 22 November from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.