A court in Pakistan has reportedly sentenced a policeman to death for the murder of the governor of Punjab province.
Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri was charged with shooting dead the governor, Salman Taseer, in January, while serving as his bodyguard.
Quadri had pleaded guilty to murder, saying he killed the liberal governor because he had backed proposals to amend country's controversial blasphemy law.
"The court has awarded my client with death. The court announced the death sentence for him," Shuja-ur-Rehman, one of Qadri's lawyers, told AFP.
Judge Pervez Ali Shah announced the verdict at an anti-terrorism court sitting behind closed doors in the high-security Adiyala prison in the capital's twin city of Rawalpindi, the lawyer said.
More than 500 people rallied outside the prison, chanting slogans in support of Qadri such as "Free Mumtaz Qadri" and "We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the honour of Prophet Mohammed.”
The protesters later blocked off a main road in the city by setting tyres alight.
"The judge has also ordered him to pay a fine of 200,000 rupees ($1,700)," the lawyer said.
The defence said they would appeal against the verdict. Under Pakistani law, they have seven days to file the petition.
Whether Qadri will be hanged will remain open even after the appeals process is exhausted. According to Amnesty International, Pakistan has had an informal moratorium on executions in place since late 2008, before which it had hanged at least 36 people that year.
Pakistan has been increasingly criticised in the West for its tough anti-blasphemy laws and over the persecution of the tiny non-Muslim minority.
But the government says it has no intention of reforming the 1986 law, underscoring the power of the hardline religious right in a conservative Muslim country long associated with Islamist militant groups.
