OKARA, PAKISTAN — Does chopping off your own arm atone for “blasphemy”? A cleric at a local mosque in a village roughly 125 kilometers from the Pakistani city of Lahore was arrested on Saturday, January 16, 2016, and charged with terror-related offenses after he allegedly incited a 15-year-old boy to sever his own hand.

Imam Shabbir Ahmed, was reportedly delivering a sermon late last week when he told those assembled that those who love the prophet Mohammed pray daily, and asked who had stopped praying and therefore by extension, did not love the prophet Mohammed.

Fifteen-year-old Mohammed Anwar apparently misheard the question and raised his hand.

The cleric then reportedly publicly accused the teenager of blasphemy, which under Pakistani law is a capital offense although no executions have ever been carried out for this offense. Al Jazeera reports, however, that at least 65 people have been “extra judicially killed” (i.e. lynched by nutjobs) since 1990 over perceived or real slights directed at Islam, its prophet or holy book.

Blasphemy is a highly controversial issue in Pakistan where a small Christian minority as well as members of various tiny sects of Islam are sometimes targeted with the broad stroke of “blasphemy.” Others say blasphemy is a convenient charge to levy against someone for personal reasons, and is often misused to settle scores.

Unfortunately, reports say the local villagers — as well as the teenage boy’s father — commended the 15-year-old for his violent and drastic act, with the father reportedly saying the cleric should not have been arrested and that he was proud of what his son had done.

Local police chief Nausher Ahmed, no relation to the cleric, told Al Jazeera, “Such illiterate imams of mosques should not be allowed to deliver speeches,” and said arresting the cleric was in line with Pakistani laws forbidding hate speech and the incitement of violence.

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