[JURIST] Pakistan’s Islamabad High Court [official website] on Monday rejected an appeal by Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the man convicted of assassinating the liberal governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province Salman Taseer for his opposition against the nation’s blasphemy law [text; JURIST news archive]. The governor, in his opposition, was expressing his concern for the court’s death sentence of a Christian woman who allegedly insulted Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. He was shot and killed by one of his own security guards while getting into his car at Islamabad’s Koshar Market. The guard, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, apparently surrendered immediately. This case has been deemed the most high-profile assassination in Pakistan since the 2007 assassination of the former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) [party website] leader Benazir Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive].

The blasphemy laws were introduced in 1986 as a way of protecting Muslim beliefs from insults. In response to repeated calls for repeal, Pakistani Federal Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti [official profile] has said the laws may be amended to prevent misuse, but they will not be repealed. Advocacy groups such as Human Rights Watch [JURIST report], as well as LHC advocate Saroop Ijaz [JURIST op-ed] have called for the laws to be repealed.