A TEENAGER has shot dead a man who had been accused under the blasphemy law in Pakistan - the second murder of those accused of blasphemy in recent weeks.

Khalil Ahmad, aged 65, a member of the minority Ahmadi community - who define themselves as Muslim, but are not accepted as such by the Pakistani state, which declared them non-Muslims in 1984 - had been arrested after asking a shopkeeper to take down a sticker denouncing his community.

A teenaged boy asked to see him in custody, and shot him. A boy was then arrested, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community, Saleem ud Din, told the news agency Reuters.

The incident is the latest example of what has been a sharp increase in controversial cases connected to the blasphemy laws. Last week, a leading human-rights lawyer, Rashid Rehman, who was representing a university professor accused of blasphemy, was shot and killed in his office. He had been warned in court by fellow lawyers against defending the professor. A protest rally against his killerswas held outside the Karachi Press Club by members of the media, trade unions, and the legal community.

Pakistani police also charged a group of 68 lawyers with blasphemy last week. They were protesting at the detention of one of their colleagues when, it is alleged, they insulted a companion of the Prophet Muhammad. No arrests in the case have yet been made.

The blasphemy laws in Pakistan carry a potential death sentence. In recent years, prominent critics of the law within the government have been murdered, including the former governor of the Punjab, Salman Taseer (News, 7 January 2011), and the Religious Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti ( News, 4 March 2011), who was a Christian.