Pakistan court adjourns governor murder trial

A Pakistani court on Saturday adjourned the case of a police commando charged with murdering a high-profile liberal governor, his lawyer said.

The court adjourned the hearing until March 26 after two more witnesses recorded their statements, a defence lawyer said.

Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri has been charged with terrorism and the murder of Punjab governor Salman Taseer on January 4.

Around 150 people rallied outside the Adiyala prison in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, where the hearing took place, chanting slogans in support of Qadri.

Qadri has confessed to killing Taseer and said he objected to the politician's calls to reform the blasphemy law, which mandates the death sentence for those convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed.

"Today, two more witnesses recorded their statements in the court, the judge later adjourned the hearing until March 26," Malik Mohammad Rafique, one of Qadri's lawyers, told AFP outside the prison.

The witnesses, a police draftsman and a constable, told the court about the scene and the post-mortem examination, he said.

The killing of the reformist Taseer was the most high-profile political assassination in Pakistan since former prime minister Benazir Bhutto died in a gun and suicide attack in December 2007.

On Wednesday, unknown attackers shot dead Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minority affairs minister who was also a vocal opponent of the blasphemy law.

The Catholic politician, who had complained of death threats, was gunned down as he left his mother's home in a residential area of Islamabad.

While no-one has ever been sent to the gallows under Pakistan's blasphemy law, activists say it is used to attack others out of personal enmity or business disputes.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.