The Nation Newspaper

Tag: blasphemy

  • Inter captain fined 5,000 euros for blasphemy

    Inter captain fined 5,000 euros for blasphemy

    Lautaro Martinez has avoided a suspension for blasphemy after the Inter Milan captain agreed a fine with the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) for offensive language during a defeat to arch-rivals Juventus.

    Argentina striker Martinez has agreed to pay 5,000 euros ($5,463) as part of a plea bargain with the FIGC, whose rules ban taking the Lord’s name in vain.

    The 27-year-old had previously denied twice using blasphemous language during February’s 1-0 loss in Turin, saying the following week, after he scored the winning goal for Inter against Genoa, that “I have never done it, ever”.

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    “I try to teach respect to my children, these accusations have caused me great irritation,” he said.

    Martinez is not the first player to fall foul of the FIGC’s anti-blasphemy rules, as goalkeeping icon Gianluigi Buffon was banned for one match in March 2021 after being caught being foul-mouthed with Juventus teammate Manolo Portanova.

    Monza ‘keeper Stefano Turati was given the same punishment in August 2023 for blasphemous swearing during a defeat to Napoli while playing for his old club Frosinone.

  • Mob kills man in Pakistan over blasphemy allegation

    Mob kills man in Pakistan over blasphemy allegation

    A mob in Pakistan has killed a man over alleged desecration of the Quran.

    The incident took place in Madyan, a popular hill station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, north-western Pakistan, according to local media.

    Hundreds of men stormed and vandalised a police station where the man was kept after he was handed over by the locals.

    Videos of the incident circulating on social media showed scores of men beating and then torching the body of the man.

    A police spokesman, Mr Wajid Rasool, said that the man accused of blasphemy was a tourist from the Sialkot district of the Punjab.

    “We have started investigations into the incident and are tracing those who attacked the police station,” he said.

    Blasphemy is a sensitive topic in Pakistan, and those accused can become targets of extremist Muslim vigilante groups.

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    In some cases, they have been gunned down, burned alive or bludgeoned to death.

    In May, a mob vandalised a Christan neighborhood in Sargodha and tortured a man over an allegation of blasphemy.

    The man died in a hospital some weeks later.

    In one of such incidents in 2020, a Pakistani-U.S. citizen was shot and killed inside a courtroom during his trial.

    (dpa/NAN)