The family of a doctor accused of blasphemy in Pakistan says police killed him in a fake encounter

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — The family of a doctor accused of blasphemy said Monday he was killed by police while in custody in southern Pakistan after he voluntarily surrendered following assurances that he would be given a chance to prove his innocence, denying a police account that he was accidentally killed in a shootout.

If true, it would be the second extra-judicial killing in a week, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

Shah Nawaz, a doctor in Umerkot district of Sindh province, had gone into hiding last week after being accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content on Facebook. Nawaz said someone had hacked his account and that he had not posted anything against Islam.

His family said he was arrested last Wednesday and killed hours later in a fake encounter with police. A mob also burned Nawaz’s clinic on Wednesday, officials said.

Police said Nawaz was killed unintentionally when officers in the city of Mirpur Khas signaled for two men on a motorcycle to stop. Instead of stopping, the men opened fire and tried to flee, prompting police to shoot, killing one of them, police said.

They said it was only after the shootout that officers learned that the slain man was the doctor being sought by them for alleged blasphemy.

“I want justice for my son who was killed when he was in the custody of police,” said Rehmat Kunbhar, Nawaz’s mother.

“We asked him to face an investigation after police assured us that he would be given protection,” she said by telephone. “I did not know that police would kill him,” she said, sobbing.

She said the posts on Facebook had continued after his arrest, showing that someone had hacked it.

Nawaz’s father, Mohammad Saleh, said a mob had snatched his son’s