O n 4 January 2011 Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab in Pakistan, was walking through Kohsar Market in Islamabad when he was shot 27 times by one of his own bodyguards, Mumtaz Qadri.​ Qadri then calmly handed himself in to his colleagues, and as press arrived smilingly told the cameras that he had killed Taseer because he was a blasphemer.

Taseer’s crime had been advocating for clemency for Asia Bibi, a Christian farm labourer who had been accused of blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad after a squabble with her Muslim neighbours. Under Pakistan Penal Code, the crime carries a mandatory death sentence.