A Muslim mob in eastern Pakistan lynched a Sri Lankan man Friday before burning his body for allegedly insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Police identified the victim as Priyantha Diyawadana, saying he was working as an export manager at a private sports equipment factory in Sialkot, an industrial city in the country’s most populous Punjab province.
A co-worker reportedly accused the slain foreigner of desecrating and removing posters from factory walls bearing the name of the Prophet Muhammad before informing others about the alleged blasphemy act.
Witnesses and area police officers said factory workers quickly gathered in large numbers and fatally attacked Diyawadana inside the facility.
“They later dragged his body to a nearby road and torched it,” Hasaan Khawar, the Punjab government spokesman, told reporters, while sharing details of the incident.
He said police had launched a high-level investigation into the attack and sent Diyawadana’s body to a local hospital for autopsy. VOA