The man responsible for killing a shopkeeper who claimed to be a prophet has launched a bid to reduce his life sentence.
Tanveer Ahmed, 32, of Bradford, was jailed for 27 years earlier this month for murdering shopkeeper Asad Shah.
Tanveer Ahmed repeatedly stabbed Mr Shah at his convenience store in Shawlands, Glasgow on March 24.
His lawyers now plan to argue the jail term was unduly harsh.
A court source told The Scottish Sun, “He has lodged a notice of intention to appeal his sentence.”
The killing, which was described by High Court judge Lady Rae as an execution, shocked many Britons.
Taxi driver Ahmed was arrested and following a court hearing in April he released a statement through his lawyer saying Mr Shah had “disrespected the message of the Prophet Muhammad”.
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He said the shopkeeper “claimed to be a prophet” and that “if I had not done this others would”.
The court was previously told that Ahmed drove from Bradford to Glasgow on the day of the murder, and engaged in a discussion with Mr Shah at his store before pulling out a knife and attacking the shopkeeper.
On route to Glasgow he had watched online footage of Mr Shah and made the comment “something needs to be done, it needs nipped in the bud”.
Mr Shah fled violence in Pakistan where the Ahmadi faith is prohibited and joined his family in Scotland in 1998 after being granted asylum.
Ahmadis are unanimously considered by both mainstream Sunni and Shia Muslims to be outside the fold of Islam because they do not believe in the finality of Prophet Muhammad’s prophethood.
The appeal for a reduced sentence comes as fresh calls were made by campaign group Faith Matters to shut down Facebook pages praising Ahmed for the killing.
Ahmed, a follower of the Barelvi missionary group Dawat-E-Islami, has been considered by some hardcore co-members to be a “ghazi” – meaning a hero – for his actions.
A Facebook spokesman said: “We have a team of people looking at these pages, including Arabic speakers.”
Since the killing, The Muslim Council of Scotland has urged imams across Scotland to preach respect for all faiths and beliefs.
