A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a shopkeeper in Glasgow because he “disrespected the message of the Prophet Mohamed”.
Asad Shah, 40, was stabbed at his convenience store in the city's Shawlands area on 24 March and died of his injuries.
Tanveer Ahmed, from Bradford in West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to murdering the respected businessman at the High Court in Glasgow
The 32-year-old taxi driver released a statement through his lawyer, John Rafferty, in March confirming police suspicions that the killing was religiously motivated.
He said Mr Shah “claimed to be a prophet” and that “if I had not done this others would”.
The statement said: "This all happened for one reason and no other issues and no other intentions.
"Asad Shah disrespected the messenger of Islam the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Mr Shah claimed to be a Prophet.
"When 1400 years ago the Prophet of Islam Muhammad peace be upon him has clearly said that 'I am the final messenger of Allah there is no more profits or messengers from God Allah after me.
"I am leaving you the final Quran. There is no changes. It is the final book of Allah and this is the final completion of Islam'."
Mr Shah was from the minority Ahmadi Muslim sect and had moved from Pakistan to Glasgow in 1998.
The Ahmadi branch of Islam was founded in 1889, by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in India.
Ahmadis revere him as a prophet - which other Muslims regard as heretical - and many have fled Pakistan after suffering persecution.
Mr Shah was discovered outside his shop on Minard Road with stab wounds and taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Hours before the attack, he had wished Christians a “very happy Easter” on Facebook but police do not believe this was the trigger for the attack.
Mr Shah's customers and friends flocked to the store the day after the attack to lay flowers and tributes to the shopkeeper they described as a “pillar of the community” and a “wonderful and gentle man”.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, was among hundreds of people who attended a vigil and donations to an online fundraising page for his family quickly topped £100,000.
Mr Shah's family said a person's religion, ethnicity or race never mattered to the shopkeeper, who treated everyone with kindness and respect.
A statement said: “He was a brilliant man, recognising that the differences between people are vastly outweighed by our similarities.
“Asad left us a tremendous gift and we must continue to honour that gift by loving and taking care of one another.”
Additional reporting by PA
