Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. — Photo by AP

ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) awarded death penalty to Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri on Saturday, DawnNews reported.

Mr Taseer was assassinated by his security guard and personnel of Punjab Elite Force, Mumtaz Qadri, on January 4, 2011 at Kohsar Market in Islamabad.

“The court has awarded my client with death. The court announced the death sentence for him,” Shujaur Rehman, one of Qadri's lawyers, told AFP by telephone.

Judge Pervez Ali Shah announced the verdict at the court behind closed doors in the high-security Adiyala prison in Rawalpindi, the lawyer said.

Qadri had earlier confessed in court that he had killed Punjab governor Salman Taseer for his ‘blasphemous’ statements.

Qadri's supporters took to the streets to denounce the sentence soon after it was handed down.

“By punishing one Mumtaz Qadri, you will produce a thousand Mumtaz Qadris!” one man shouted through a megaphone outside the jail.

The court handed down two death sentences for murder and terrorism to Qadri, who has seven days to file an appeal, state television reported.

Reporters and other members of the public were not allowed in to the hearing and it was not known if Qadri attended.