Priyantha Kumara was a Sri Lankan national and textile factory manager, who reportedly removed religious posters from his workplace in Sialkot, Pakistan. For that, the 48 year-old was accused of blasphemy – the charge of insulting Islam and/or the Prophet Muhammad – beaten and burned alive by a mob of other workers in December 2021. Some took selfies with Kumara’s body while chanting religious slogans and these were swiftly broadcast to social media.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has promised to clamp down on such ‘vigilante killings’ and, as it stands, 131 arrests have been made in Kumara’s case. However, Pakistan’s penal code allows the death penalty as a punishment for blasphemy.
