Image copyright AFP Image caption The Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan has been closed until further notice

A university student in Pakistan accused of blasphemy against Islam has been killed by a mob of fellow students on campus, police say.

Many students have been arrested after the brutal attack in the northern city of Mardan, and the campus has been closed.

Reports suggest that two young men were accused of posting offensive content on Facebook. One survived with injuries.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive and incendiary issue in Pakistan.

'Badly tortured'

Critics say blasphemy laws, which allow the death penalty in some cases, are often misused to oppress minorities.

There have been other cases where people accused of it have been killed by an angry crowd.

The murdered student has been identified as Mashal Khan, who studied journalism. Some reports say he was shot, while others say he was beaten to death with planks.

"He was badly tortured after being shot at a close range... He was beaten with sticks, bricks and hands," senior police official Niaz Saeed told the AFP news agency.

Hundreds of people were involved, the officer said. Graphic video footage of the incident has emerged online.

Police had not been investigating the two accused men, nor had any case been filed against them, and the mob appeared to have acted on rumours, the Dawn newspaper reports.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Police guard the dormitory where the attack occurred

Image copyright EPA Image caption Protests against blasphemy on social media were held in Islamabad last month

Last month Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif voiced his support for a wide-ranging crackdown on blasphemous content on social media.

In a statement on his party's official Twitter account, he described blasphemy as an "unpardonable offence".

An official at Abdul Wali Khan University who spoke on condition of anonymity said Mr Khan was disliked by other students for his liberal and secular views.

At least 65 people have been murdered in Pakistan after being accused of blasphemy since 1990, a recent think tank report said.

Read more

Pakistan tackles Facebook on blasphemy

What are Pakistan's blasphemy laws?

Couple get death sentences for blasphemy</s>PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Police in Pakistan say a mob has killed a university student over alleged blasphemy.

Police officer Saleem Khan says a group of students at the Abdul Wali Khan University in the northwestern city of Mardan attacked Mohammad Mashal, accusing him of sharing blasphemous content on Facebook.

Khan says the university has been closed indefinitely to prevent further violence.

Pakistan has recently vowed to combat the sharing of blasphemous material on social media, and has tried to enlist Facebook and Twitter in its campaign.

Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death under Pakistani law, and the mere suspicion of blasphemy is enough to ignite deadly mob violence in the Muslim-majority country.</s>A student of Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan was murdered on campus and another injured on Thursday as they were accused of putting up 'blasphemous' content online, according to initial reports.

After the incident, at least 10 people were immediately arrested and the campus was closed until further notice.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Mardan Alam Shinwari said the student was accused of publishing blasphemous content Facebook pages.

He was beaten up by a group of students and became a victim of gunshot wound, the DIG said.</s>Islamabad: A journalism student was shot dead by fellow students at the Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU) in Pakistan's Mardan town on Thursday after being accused of blasphemy.

The deceased was identified as Mashal Khan, a student at the Journalism and Mass Communication department, Dawn reported.

At least 15 people were arrested in connection with the incident, which occurred in the university premises. The campus has been shut down until further notice.

Mardan Deputy Inspector General of Police Alam Shinwari said the dead student was accused of running Facebook pages which allegedly published blasphemous content.

He was assaulted by a mob of students and appears to have succumbed to a gunshot wound, he said.

Police took the body away but students kept demanding it back.

Blasphemy carries death penalty in Pakistan. In many cases, an accusation alone is enough to inspire vigilante action against suspects.</s>MARDAN/PESHAWAR - A mob beat a student to death at his university campus on Thursday after he was accused of sharing blasphemous content on social media, university and police officials said.

Five other persons also sustained injuries during the violent episode in Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan.

Muhammad Mashal Khan, a student of mass communication, had allegedly committed blasphemy on Wednesday evening at the university canteen. Sources said later the news spread in the whole campus.

Some sources claimed the deceased student was attacked and killed because he, along with a fellow student, was allegedly running Facebook pages to promote Ahmadi religion.

It was unclear exactly what online posting had prompted the blasphemy accusation against Mashal, who hailed from Zaida area of Swabi district and was residing in university hostel.

A group of about 10 students shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack on fellow student Mashal Khan, who was stripped naked and beaten with planks until his skull caved in as other students looked on, video obtained by Reuters showed.

“After severe torture that led to his [Mashal Khan’s] death, the charged students then wanted to burn his body,” said local police chief Mohammad Alam Shinwari said.

One of Khan’s teachers recalled that he was a passionate and critical student. “He was brilliant and inquisitive, always complaining about the political system of the country, but I never heard him saying anything controversial against the religion,” said the teacher.

Sources said several fellow students had vowed to kill Mashal. On Thursday morning hordes of furious students reached the hostel and started beating the victim with sticks, injuring him seriously. Sources added that attackers also shot gun fires, due to which five other students were also injured.

DSP City Ihtiraz Khan and DSP Sheikh Maltoon Haidar Khan along with heavy contingent of police reached the university and began to disperse the angry students. Sources added that DSP Haider Khan also got minor injuries.

Police later started search operation in university premises and vacated all departments and hostels. Police said they had arrested more than 25 students for taking law into their hands, torching properties and vehicles and attacking the police. A first information report (FIR) of the incident was not registered till filing of this report.

However, a heavy contingent of police had been deployed in and around the university while the administration closed the university for indefinite period following the gory incident.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive topic in the country and a capital crime that has hundreds languishing on death row. Sometimes even an accusation can lead to violence and murder of the accused before any trial.

In recent months, government has been vocal about the issue, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issuing an order last month for removal of blasphemous content online and saying anyone who posted such content should face “strict punishment under the law”.

Reuters reported that at least 65 people have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to figures from a Center for Research and Security Studies report and local media.</s>Mob attacks three students in university canteen over blasphemy allegation, killing one and wounding two others.

Islamabad, Pakistan - One university student has been killed and two others wounded during a violent mob attack after being accused of committing blasphemy in the northern Pakistani city of Mardan, police say.

The three men were attacked by fellow students while conversing in the cafeteria of the Abdul Wali Khan University on Thursday, local police official Pir Muhammad told Al Jazeera.

"Other students who overheard the victims talking first surrounded them and then started attacking them," said Muhammad.

"The two who were wounded have been taken to the hospital and are safe and sound."

Blasphemy against Islam is a sensitive subject in Pakistan, where punishment for the crime ranges from a fine to a mandatory death sentence, depending on the specific offence.

Currently, about 40 people are on death row or serving life sentences for blasphemy in Pakistan, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Increasingly, however, right-wing vigilantes and mobs have taken the law into their own hands, killing at least 69 people over alleged blasphemy since 1990, according to an Al Jazeera tally.

Those killed have included people accused of blasphemy, their lawyers, their relatives, judges hearing their cases and members of their communities.

Several people were arrested following the attack in Mardan on Thursday, and an investigation into who was responsible for instigating the violence was ongoing, said Muhammad.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera's Web Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim</s>Pakistani student Mashal Khan was killed by a mob on a university campus after being accused of blasphemy against Islam.

His father says there is no freedom of expression in the country.</s>MARDAN: A student died and several others injured in firing and ransacking in Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan on Thursday. The university was closed for indefinite time period.

Police said that firing and ransacking took place at Garton Campus of Abdul Wali Khan University over allegations of blasphemy.

A student identified as Mishal was killed over allegations of blasphemy while five others were injured who were shifted to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital for treatment.

The police after registering a case into the incident have started an investigation.</s>A mob in northern Pakistan has killed a university student over alleged blasphemy, officials say.

University and police officials say a group of students at the Abdul Wali Khan University in the city of Mardan beat Mohammad Mashal to death within the university premises on April 13, accusing him of sharing blasphemous content on social media.

Video footage of the attack shows the victim, identified as 23-year-old Mashal, lying on the floor surrounded by men and being beaten with wooden planks.

At least 10 suspects were arrested in connection with the attack, local police said.

Blasphemy is a criminal offense in Pakistan and can carry the death penalty.

It is a highly sensitive issue in the Muslim-majority country where at least 65 people have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to the Center for Research and Security Studies.

The government has recently vowed to combat the sharing of blasphemous content on social media.

Based on reporting by Dawn, AP, and Reuters</s>Hundreds of Pakistani students beat to death a classmate known for his liberal views on a university campus in the country's conservative northwest Thursday, police and witnesses said.

Mashal Khan, a journalism student, was stripped, beaten, shot, and thrown from the second floor of his hostel at the Abdul Wali Khan university in Mardan, sources at the university said.

Graphic video footage from the scene shows dozens of men outside the hostel kicking and hurling projectiles at a body sprawled on the ground.

The killing comes as Pakistani authorities including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan have been increasingly vocal over blasphemy in recent weeks.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive charge in the conservative Muslim country, and can carry the death penalty. Even unproven allegations can cause mob lynchings and violence.

"The student has been brutally murdered by his fellow students," Niaz Saeed, a senior police official, told AFP.

"He was badly tortured after being shot at a close range... He was beaten with sticks, bricks and hands," Saeed said, adding that hundreds of people had been involved in the attack.

At least 11 students have been arrested so far, police said, and the university was closed indefinitely, with the campus largely deserted late Thursday evening.

"We are investigating the case but at this stage we cannot say anything" about the motive for the attack, Saeed said

However a police source told AFP that students had recently complained to university authorities about Khan's alleged secular views.

The source said Khan and two friends had been in a debate with other students earlier Thursday about his religious views which became so heated that teachers had to lock him in a room for his safety.

"But the enraged students grew to a mob and they attacked the room," the source said.

A university official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed teachers had been forced to intervene in the debate "in a bid to save him and his two other friends, but the mob of students attacked the room and tortured and killed him".

Khan was "disliked by other students for being liberal and secular and not following a religious code of life and not attending Friday prayers," the official said.

Last month Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered blasphemous content be removed from social media, and perpetrators punished.

The Interior Ministry also threatened to block all social media websites with blasphemous content, and said Facebook was sending a delegation to Pakistan to discuss their concerns, although Facebook would not confirm that to AFP.

Rights groups have long criticised Pakistan's colonial-era blasphemy legislation as a vehicle for personal vendettas.

At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to recent think tank report issued before Thursday's killing.

Activists have also accused religious conservatives of using blasphemy as a means of muzzling dissent.
One student is murdered and another injured in Mardan, Pakistan over alleged blasphemy. The student who died, Mashal Khan, was known on social media for his secular and liberal views.