A Pakistani Muslim man accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammad was been killed inside a court compound in a frenzied knife attack today.
The suspect accused of blasphemy, Abdul Sattar Gopang, was set upon by two attackers as he was leaving a court in the town of Muzzafargarh.
He was stabbed in the chest 15 times. Police described the attackers as "religious fanatics".
The assailants, a student and a shopkeeper, were arrested on murder charges.
A police official said: "They have no regrets, they're smiling. They say they decided to kill Gopang at the first opportunity, that it was their duty."
Gopang had been arrested in March after being accused of uttering blasphemous comments during a fight with a man.
Blasphemy is against the law in Muslim Pakistan and carries the death sentence. Cases are relatively common but death sentences have never been carried out because convictions have always been turned down by high courts citing lack of evidence.
While death sentences have not been carried out, there are occasionally instances of enraged mobs attacking and killing people accused of blasphemy, including desecration of the Koran.
On Thursday, a mob killed a Muslim cleric in a village in Punjab province after members of a rival religious group accused the cleric of burning pages of the Koran.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the cleric's killing highlighted how the blasphemy law was abused by people to settle personal or religious disputes.