A man has pleaded guilty to the murder of a Glasgow shopkeeper who he claimed disrespected Islam.

Tanveer Ahmed, a 32-year-old Muslim from Bradford, killed 40-year-old Asad Shah because he believed the Glasgow newsagent claimed to be a prophet.

Mr Shah was found with serious injuries outside his shop at Shawlands in Glasgow on 24 March this year.

Mr Shah was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.

His final Facebook update, posted a few hours before his death, offered Easter greetings "to my beloved Christian nation".


Image: A picture of Tanveer Ahmad

He had settled in Scotland with his family in 1998 after fleeing prejudice against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan.

After Ahmed's second appearance in court in April, he released a statement through his lawyer John Rafferty.

It said: "This all happened for one reason and no other issues and no other intentions.

"Asad Shah disrespected the messenger of Islam the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Mr Shah claimed to be a Prophet.

"When 1,400 years ago the Prophet of Islam Muhammad peace be upon him has clearly said that 'I am the final messenger of Allah there is no more prophets or messengers from God Allah after me.

"'I am leaving you the final Quran. There is no changes. It is the final book of Allah and this is the final completion of Islam.

"'There is no more changes to it and no one has the right to claim to be a Prophet or to change the Quran or change Islam'."

Image: A picture of Tanveer Shah

The court was told that Ahmed is a Sunni Muslim who travelled from his home in Bradford to carry out the killing.



Psychiatric examination of him revealed no evidence of mental disorder.



CCTV showed him attacking the shopkeeper with a knife. Mr Shah died after suffering multiple stab wounds and other injuries which the court heard were typically seen in car crash victims.

Prosecutors told the court that Ahmadiyyas differ from other Muslims in their belief that the Prophet Muhammad was not the final Prophet.

The court was told Mr Shah's extended family had been "greatly affected" by the murder and now intended to leave Scotland.

In a family impact statement to the court, they said: "We are reliving this horror every moment of every day of our lives. Our children are equally traumatised by what's happened as - as, regardless of their age, they see and sense a profound difference in the way we are and the way we go about our lives.

"Due to our immense burden and sorrow, we avoid meeting people and even spending time with each other. We feel that we have all become different people. It's just too much to bare and there is very little capacity to deal with even our own, let alone each other's pain."

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