LAHORE, Pakistan — This month, thousands of Muslims armed with hatchets, axes, sticks and clubs beat a Christian couple, tied them to a tractor, dragged them over a road covered in crushed stones, soaked their bodies in gasoline and burned them in a kiln.
The torture and deaths of Shahzad Masih, 32, and his pregnant wife, Shama, 28, in the small village of Chak 59 were sparked by accusations they desecrated the Quran. The brutal killings highlight how Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws are a formidable tool in the hands of religious zealots.
