The Pakistani government has sent the judge who issued the death sentence to the assassin who killed Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer to Saudi Arabia to protect his life; Judge Pervez Ali Shah, sentenced Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, Taseer’s self-confessed assassin, on 1 October; Shah went on leave after his courtroom was ransacked and several hardline religious groups offered a reward for anyone who killed him; Shah and his family have been provided with security and safe lodging in Saudi Arabia; religious and hardline groups are actively appealing the government to remove Shah from his post for his decision to sentence Qadri to death