Salman Taseer's assassin Mumtaz Qadri hanged to death in Pakistan

Islamabad: Former Pakistan Punjab governor Salman Taseer's assassin Mumtaz Qadri was hanged to death early on Monday at Rawalpindi's Adiala jail.

Qadri, a former Pakistani police commando, had shot dead Taseer in 2011or allegedly criticising Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. Qadri was deputed on the security of Taseer,

He confessed killing the governor and was handed the death sentence the same year by an anti-terrorism court.

His appeal against the sentence was successively rejected by the Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court last year.

Radical religious groups had been demanding that Qadri should be forgiven as he killed a “blasphemer”.

Taseer, who died aged 66, had termed the blasphemy regulations as “black laws”, drawing the ire of extremists.

The laws were introduced by Pakistan’s military ruler Zia-ul-Haq in 1980s.

With PTI inputs