Briton on bereavement row in Pakistan shot

Islamabad: A 70-year-old Scottish man sentenced to death in Pakistan for committing blasphemy was shot and wounded in prison on Thursday, officials said, and was being treated in hospital.

Mohammad Asghar was convicted in January for claiming to be a prophet of Islam, moving British PM David Cameron to say he was “deeply concerned” about the issue. Asghar, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in Britain in 2010, had declared his prophethood in court and included a reference to it on his business card, a government prosecutor said.

Saddar police said, “A prison official in his twenties transported an illegal weapon inside the prison on Thursday and shot an inmate,” adding the accused would face charges for attempted murder.