Nizar Masih lay face-down in the dust and the dirt, blood streaming from his battered head, soaking his torn shirt. Yet, for the mob seething and surging around him, the 73-year-old grandfather still hadn’t suffered enough.
They continued their onslaught, launching a fresh salvo of blows on the limp, lifeless body. Rocks were hurled, sticks were brought down with devastating force. In the farrago of violence it was impossible to tell if Mr Masih was dead or alive.
The intensity of the anger on display in the Punjab town of Sargodha, Pakistan, in late May, was raised up that day on nothing more than a spurious accusation of blasphemy. It was claimed that burnt and damaged pages of the Qur’an were found outside Mr Masih’s house; an incredulously convenient location for a piece of evidence on which to frame his guilt.
