Mashal Khan was a student at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan in Pakistan who was studying journalism. A devoted student, he had planned on eventually going into civil services, but in April 2017, when he was just 23 years old, his plans were tragically cut short.

On the 13th of April, the assistant registrar of the university posted a notice online that three students, including Mashal, had been suspended and placed under investigation for alleged blasphemous activities. In response to this allegation, a mob soon formed, composed of students and even some university officials. They found Mashal in the university hostel, accusing him of posting blasphemy on social media. He was shot, beaten, tortured, and thrown from a second-story window. Even after he had died from his injuries, the mob continued to abuse and brutalize his body.

"I want justice from my country, I don't want someone else's child to go through this, it isn't merely the question of my child." - Iqbal Khan, Mashal's father

In fact, a police investigation found that there had been no basis for an accusation of blasphemy against Mashal or the other accused. One university official said Mashal possessed “liberal and secular views”; but, as his father noted, he was a dedicated Muslim and there had been no basis for the accusation with which he was tarred. Mashal, however, had been a critic of university policies and officials and had not been timid about it, and it was shortly after one such instance of public criticism that the assistant registrar posted the allegation. 

Following this act of vigilantism, numerous people involved with the lynching were arrested and punished, some with the death penalty or life imprisonment.