Pakistan hangs man who killed former Punjab governor Salman Taseer

Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday executed a man who killed the governor of Punjab province over his call to reform blasphemy laws.
Street protests broke out within hours by supporters of the killer.
The head of the Islamabad Bar Council called for a day-long strike of lawyers in protest against the hanging.
Mumtaz Qadri, a bodyguard for Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab province, shot him dead in the capital, Islamabad, in 2011. "Qadri was hanged at around 4:30 a.m.," senior police officer Rizwan Omar Gondal said.
The execution took place in the city of Rawalpindi outside Islamabad.
After his arrest, Qadri told police he killed Taseer because the governor had championed the cause of a Christian woman sentenced to death in a blasphemy case that arose out of a personal dispute.
Taseer had said the law was being misused and should be reformed.
Qadri's attorney said his client told him he had no regrets for killing the governor.
Protesters briefly blocked the main road between Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Monday after news of the hanging broke.
Police later dispersed them and closed off the road to prevent more demonstrations.
Late in 2011, an anti-terrorism court handed down a double death sentence to Qadri for murder and terrorism.
The sentence was appealed and upheld by the Supreme Court late last year.