Pakistani Religious Council Declares Serial Killer's Sentence Un-Islamic

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A court sentence that calls for a serial killer to be executed much as his victims died--strangled publicly, with his body then cut into 100 pieces and dissolved in a vat of acid--violates the tenets of Islam, Pakistan's top religious body ruled Monday.

The sentence runs contrary to Islamic teachings that prohibit the desecration of a body, said the state-run Council of Islamic Ideology, which oversees Pakistani laws to ensure that they do not contravene Islamic tenets.

Earlier this month, a judge found Javed Iqbal guilty of killing 100 children and sentenced him to die as his victims died. Pakistan's interior minister, Lt. Gen. Moinuddin Haider, criticized the sentence and said the army-led government would challenge it.

The serial killing generated anger and outrage throughout Pakistan. Iqbal originally confessed in a letter to police but later recanted and pleaded innocent.