Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Mumtaz Qadri, a former police guard respected within Pakistan for killing politician named as Salmaan Taseer over his support for a woman convicted of blasphemy. Taseer was governor of Punjar at the time of his death, and he was leaving a restaurant in January 2011 when he was shot dead. Taseer had drawn ire from religious conservative groups when he took up the cause of a Christian woman sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet Muhammed. The next possible step for Qadri will be an appeal for a presidential pardon, which is unlikely to be granted. The upholding of Qadri’s death sentence marks a significant moment in a country with a history of religious extremism.