Pakistani man claiming to be prophet shot dead

A former Pakistan army captain sentenced to death for claiming to be a prophet was shot dead today by another prisoner.

A former Pakistan army captain sentenced to death for claiming to be a prophet was shot dead today by another prisoner.

Yousaf Ali, 62, was shot dead with a pistol while being moved from one barrack to another in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.

A Pakistani official said the man who shot Ali was a religious activist jailed in a murder case.

The Sessions Court in Lahore, capital of the central province of Punjab, sentenced Ali in August 2000 to death for blasphemy after he claimed to be a prophet of God.

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Ali had appealed his conviction before the provincial Lahore High Court, which had yet to rule on his appeal.

The charge under the country's controversial blasphemy law followed a complaint from an Islamic group which said in 1997 that Ali had claimed to be a prophet and that he was receiving divine revelations.

Muslims believe Prophet Mohammad was the last prophet of God and Pakistan's blasphemy law regards any claim of prophethood after him as a blasphemous act punished by death.

Human rights groups say the blasphemy law has often been misused against non-Muslim minorities or to settle personal disputes.