Two brothers have each been jailed for 12 years in Pakistan for an act of cannibalism and desecrating a child's grave. Mohammad Farman Ali and Mohammad Arif Ali were sentenced at an anti-terrorism court in Sargodha, in Punjab province.
The pair were arrested in April after the severed head of a two-year-old child was discovered in their house. They later admitted digging up the body from a local graveyard and cooking it into a curry.
The brothers had previously been convicted of similar charges in 2011 and served two years in prison. Their release last May had caused resentment among residents of their village, Khwawar Kalan, near Darya Khan in Bhakkar district.
After their release, the brothers kept a low profile. However, in April, neighbours complained of the smell of rotting flesh coming from their home. A police raid found the child's head, which had been buried in a nearby cemetery.
Alongside grave desecration, the brothers were found guilty of spreading fear and damaging property under Pakistan's anti-terrorism law. They are entitled to appeal against the sentence in the provincial high court.
