Taxi driver gets 14 years for mosque shooting

The jury did not believe the explanation that Janaid Iqbal acted in self defence when he shot victim over a dozen times

Janaid Iqbal, 28, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Thursday for his role in the murder of 24-year-old Tamur Asghar outside a mosque on Amerikavej in Vesterbro last year.

Iqbal was also shot twice, in the stomach and buttocks, during the incident, before jumping into a car that drove him to a hospital in Malmö, Sweden. The police said that shots were fired from at least three weapons at the scene.

Iqbal claimed in court that he had been shot first and was acting in self defence and in a state of shock when he killed Asghar.

But the jury believed the prosecution's argument that it was a planned execution and that Iqbal had shot first. Some of the shots were fired only 75 centimetres from the victim.

Iqbal immediately appealed the court's decision.

“We don’t agree with the judgement of the evidence in the case. They haven’t accounted for the unique situation that my client found himself in,” Rolf Lindegaard Gregersen, Iqbal's defence lawyer, told metroXpress newspaper.

Iqbal and Asghar grew up on the same street, Saxogade in Vesterbro, but found themselves at the heart of a family feud that ultimately culminated in the murder of two people.

On 30 August  2011, following an argument between Asghar and Iqbal’s father and uncle outside the mosque, Iqbal pulled a gun and shot Asghar between 12 and 14 times.

Mohammad Shakil, Iqbal’s uncle who drove with him to Malmö after the shooting, was himself shot and killed last month, after he had closed his kiosk on Enghavevej on Vesterbro for the night.

The police believe that Shakil's murder was retaliation for the killing of Asghar.