‘Lawyer of Pakistani accused of blasphemy killed’

• By Eugene Volokh

• May 8 at 1:45 pm

Gunmen in Pakistan killed the lawyer of a man accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad Wednesday night, police said….
Rehman was representing a university professor who is currently facing trial on blasphemy charges, [senior police officer Mahmoodul] Hasan said.

The BBC adds:

An official at the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) told [Agence France Press] that for a year no lawyer was prepared to take up the case because of fear of reprisals from extremist religious groups.
Mr Rehman, a rights activist and co-ordinator of the HRCP, decided to defend Mr Hafeez despite reportedly receiving death threats.

Eugene Volokh teaches free speech law, religious freedom law, church-state relations law, a First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic, and tort law, at UCLA School of Law, where he has also often taught copyright law, criminal law, and a seminar on firearms regulation policy. Before coming to UCLA, he clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Alex Kozinski on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (4th ed. 2011), The Religion Clauses and Related Statutes (2005), and Academic Legal Writing (4th ed. 2010), as well as over 70 law review articles. Volokh is also an Academic Affiliate for the Mayer Brown LLP law firm.