not the images china wanted for the 20th anniversary of the hong kong handover. democracy activists trying to gate—crash the party. president xi was safely inside. swearing in a new government and delivering stern words about hong kong's future. translation: any attempt to endanger china's sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government is an act that crosses the red line and is absolutely impermissible. tough love was the message throughout his tour of hong kong. "greetings, comrades", he shouted. hong kong may be special, but it must learn to love the motherland. his just seems to be empire xi. but sorry, we are the ones who asked for democracy and we will not show our loyalty to the one party dictatorship leader. no sooner had president xi left, then the streets filled with protesters, marking the anniversary of the handover in their usual style. shouting at china patriots to go back to the mainland. taiwan flags among countless ways to defy one—party china. china controls the hard power in hong kong but this illustrates the problem it has with soft power. they didn't come out to welcome president xi, they didn't come out to celebrate 20 years since the handover of hong kong. they are here on the street to demand democracy and to cherish their right to protest. hong kong independence! 20 years since the handover and tacking between two masters is getting harder all the time. the hong kong public want more say in their lives. and so does beijing. tonight is china's show. but this city is profoundly uncertain about what the next 20 years of chinese rule might bring. carrie gracie, bbc news, hong kong. now on bbc news, a brilliant student, mashal khan, was brutally murdered by a mob on a university campus in pakistan earlier this year after he was accused of blasphemy. the killing has caused widespread outrage in pakistan and has even led to calls to change the country's strict blasphemy laws. who was mashal khan and why was he murdered? secunder kermani investigates. there are some upsetting scenes in this film which viewers may find disturbing. a horrific lynching captured on camera on a university campus. the victim is a star student, mashal khan, who describes himself as a humanist. the mob, though, think he's a blasphemer. his attackers are his classmates, and even university employees. this was mashal khan's room where he tried to hide from the mob. they found him here. the kicked him, they beat him, they hit him with sticks and they shot him. they were happy. when they were beating him, they were happy. the issue of blasphemy has long divided pakistani society and some hope this case could finally lead to some reform. but others are deadly opposed to that. this is the village of zaida, in pakistan's the northern khyber pakhtunkhwa province. it is where mashal khan grew up. and it's where his family still live. they're trying to keep his room just as it was before his death. mashal was a big inspiration for you, then, was he? with his awards. he was great inspiration for me because he said — and he did work with me, a lot of work — and he said me that you will get awards like me. supporters have composed poems and songs in mashal‘s honour. for mashal‘s normally reserved father, himself a left—wing poet, they can be hard to listen to. mashal spent a year studying in russia. the experience broadened his horizons. when he came back, he decided he wanted to become a journalist. abdul wali khan university is one of pakistan's newest institutions with a student population over 12,000. it's just an hour's drive away from mashal‘s village. the campus has been closed since mashal‘s murder. 0ver there, that building is the department ofjournalism that he used to study at. 0ver there is the hostel that he lived in, and it's where he died. mashal stood out here for his intelligence and his liberal views. but he had plenty of close friends. so that's mashal? that's abdullah, that's mashal and that's me. this is him alongside abdullah, who would also be accused of blasphemy, and faheem, anotherjournalism student. we werejust gossiping. what was your first impression of him, when you met him? that he's a kind of genius guy. what was it about him that made you think that? his thoughts, the way he spoke in the class, and he used to read karl marx — he was a big fan of karl marx. mashal would debate with more conservative students. he described himself as a muslim but also as a liberal. over time, debates turned to threats. he used to discuss with religious fanatics — he knew that, but he used to discuss these things. and what would they talk about? what were their discussions about? about islam, and religion. did he ever think that he should stop talking about his views, or...? yeah. several times he told me, but i think he couldn't. he was outspoken. blasphemy is probably the most emotive topic in pakistan. it's legally punishable by death. though no—one's ever been executed for it, dozens who'd been accused of it have been killed by mobs. in the lead up to mashal‘s killing, the authorities were talking about banning all social media to prevent what they call blasphemous material being spread online. and even after mashal‘s death, the pakistani telecom authorities sent out this text message to all pakistanis, saying "uploading and sharing of blasphemous content on the internet is a punishable offence under the law. such content should be reported for legal action." and what critics say is that this kind of message encourages a kind of vigilantism. blasphemy allegations are often used in pakistan as a way to settle personal feuds. mashal‘s father believes this video of him criticising alleged corruption in the university a few days before his death led to a conspiracy against him. police have also collected evidence suggesting students politicians jealous of mashal‘s influence wanted him out of the university. it's hard to know what of that is true. what we do know is that most of those who took part in the violence did believe mashal was a blasphemer. i think at one time, the notion of the thing or plan of action in pakistan was that if somebody wanted to get someone killed, they'll go hire what we came to know as target killers, you know. guns for hire, mercenaries. now, just release a rumour that this guy committed blasphemy. he'll either be killed of forced to leave the country. dozens of mashal‘s fellow students who appeared in the videos of the killings have been arrested. some were members of religious student organisations, others left—wing ones. i wanted to understand what was behind their brutality. i have managed to get a hold of some of their statements to police. one of the statement is from one of mashal‘s followjournalism students. his name is wajahat. and in it, in this slightly bizarre language of the pakistani court system, he says he's long accused mashal of having nefarious and devilish designs, as well as an anti—islamic attitude. we're about to go and meet wajahat‘s father. wajahat is not accused of having beaten mashal, but of helping incite the attacks by accusing him of blasphemy in front of a group of other students. his father is a retired university professor who spent five years studying in dundee. had he ever spoken to you about this boy, mashal khan, before? yes. he told me that this guy, he is talking about blaspheme. i told him let you find your chairman, department chairman, and ask him to settle the problem. he's adamant mashal was committing blasphemy and should have been expelled by the university. in the law, nobody should commit blasphemy. otherwise, he will be hanged. but what will happen if somebody is reputedly doing this, saying this, and nobody is taking action. so who is responsible for this? do you think that mashal has some responsibility over his own death, basically? yes, he is responsible for his own death. i think so. if my son commits blasphemy and if someone kills him, so he is responsible for his death. the day of the lynching, it seems, began like any other. mashal apparently had no idea what was about to happen. yelling. a group of students demanded to see the lecturers, accusing mashal and two of his friends of having committed blasphemy. they first attacked one of mashal‘s friends but he was eventually rescued by police. the mob began to swell in number, chanting slogans against mashal. but mashal was hiding in his hostel. friends had warned him the mob was after him. he began frantically calling and texting friends. we've seen some of his last messages. mashal writes: his friend asks: then: mashal never replied. the mob found him on the second floor of his hostel. here is his room. it's still in the same condition! it's kind of incredible. i came here the day after the murders. now, overa month, looks like nothing's changed. this room is in exactly the same mess that it was the day mashal died, down to what seems to be one of his last meals and its remnants lying over there. the only thing that seems to have changed is that here, when i came the day after the murder, he had a poster of che guevara and a poster of karl marx, and someone's ripped them down. these are the bloodstains where it seems the authorities think that mashal was lined up against the wall and shot. at least two eyewitnesses that i've spoken to say that after he was shot, he was still alive and they try to carry his body back down the stairs to try and get him some help because after the shots had rung out, the mob dispersed and they were able to try and rescue him. they told me that his last words that he was saying to them was he was reciting the muslim statement of faith — that there is no god but allah, and muhammed is his messenger. but when they got to the bottom of these stairs, the mob had reassembled and they managed to grab his body back. from this point, mashal‘s last moments are captured on mobile phones. his fellow students beat him as he lay dying. the videos were instantly shared across pakistan. their brutality and the brazen nature of the killers who made no attempt to disguise their identity shocked the nation. mashal is eventually dragged outside. even long after he was dead, they continued beating his body. police were present, but were either unable or unwilling to stop them. even more gathered — some just to watch the spectacle, some to aim a kick or even spit on mashal‘s body. they were saying that: hit him. they were happy. when they were beating him, they were happy. after killing mashal, the mob gathered in celebration. leading them is a local councillor from a mainstream political party — one of the few remaining suspects still at large. mashal‘s body was eventually recovered by police and taken home to his family. we're still struggling to understand what led to this massive escalation of violence. why did the students form a mob now and what exactly was it that they found so offensive? i was hoping that a document i had obtained, written by one of the accused, wajahat, might give me a clue. we got hold of another letter, written by wajahat to a number of religious scholars who he is effectively encouraging to support the killers of mashal. in it he goes into detail about the alleged blasphemy that mashal was committing. he spoke about one conversation in particular that he had with mashal about adam and eve in which mashal is saying why is incest forbidden in islam if the children of adam and eve would have had incestuous relationships with each other for mankind to exist? wajahat is being held at the central jail along with 50 others arrested for the murder. i got rare access to the suspects. we did manage to speak to wajahat and he said that on the day of the murder no—one set out with the intention of killing mashal. they wanted, in his words, to give him a few slaps, hand him over to police and have him expelled from the university. the jail, though, is full of other suspects and i spoke to someone who was involved in the physical violence, another journalist student called imran who shot mashal and has no regrets about what he did. he is open in saying he believes mashal khan deserved to die. mashal‘s killers have their sympathisers. this was a rallyjust weeks after the murder, calling mashal a blasphemer. it was addressed by a number of former mps, including this man, a leading localfigure in a islamist party. he was one of the clerics that wajahat sent his letter to from jail. i went to ask him about the supposedly blasphemous comments. the letter that wajahat wrote, that you received as well, says that adam's children must have committed incest for the human race to evolve. is that blasphemy, to raise that as a point? but you think that was not a philosophical argument he was making? we are talking about whether mashal committed blasphemy or not. but for lots and lots of people around the world, it is irrelevant. no matter what he said, what ever he might or is alleged to have said, nothing can justify killing someone, especially not in that way. a0 days after mashal‘s death, the family are hosting a commemoration service. a loose progressive movement is building around his memory. a few thousand turn out for the rally. the red caps belong to supporters of the local left—wing political party. others are just individuals wanting to show solidarity. none of the mainstream political parties are hear, but by pakistani standards, it's unprecedented, given the accusations against mashal. banners proclaim him as a martyr. but the movement to honour mashal is gathering enemies. despite repeated announcements from the police that mashal had not committed blasphemy, this man is convinced that he did. and he is adamant there will be no change to the blasphemy laws. some people would say, why do you even need a blasphemy law? why would god or any of the prophets be worried by somebody insulting them? even other religious scholars have come out in support of mashal and said the way he was killed was wrong and we have to guard against false accusations of blasphemy. but none of them, not even the secular parties, are really seriously considering or discussing reforming or abolishing the blasphemy laws because it is just such a sensitive topic here and they know there would be such popular resistance. that is what is so dangerous about it. these laws are actually, unlike the taliban, unlike extremist groups, they are quite popular here with ordinary people. the university has now reopened. although some students told us they are trying to transfer, worried by its new reputation. the reopening of the university was a chance to meet and finally talk to the university administration. isn't it a failure of the university that its students held, or some of its students, held such extreme views that they thought it was acceptable to lynch and kill someone? it is a failure of the university but it is a failure of the pakistani education system. it is a failure of the pakistani social and political system and pakistani society as a whole. wajahat‘s father lives in the shadow of the jail that now houses his son. he is worried about the future of his son and of the country. now we are becoming atheist, the people are free to make people atheist and what does that make pakistan? do you think atheism is spreading in pakistan? i think it is because people like you and the media who are giving more and more attention to such atheistic views, of course it will grab the whole country in the very near future. because nobody will be safe. they will not be in safe hands. and we will lose our identity. there is still so many questions around mashal‘s death. could the police have done more? could the university administration? there are concerns failings could be covered up. hello. turning out to be quite a nice day for many parts of the southern areas. the remnants of saturday's rain will still be there across the south—east. once we get rid of that, a really lovely day for a good part of england and wales. not too much in the way of breeze. temperatures into the low 20s and teens for many. more in the way of cloud, maybe a passing shower. some of those may be sharp and prolonged, especially towards the end of the day. across the north—west of scotland, you may even hear the odd rumble of thunder. winds easing in the north—east but ever present for a good part of scotland for most of the day. monday, the start of wimbledon. quite a bit of cloud, may be brighter later, the chance of one or two showers. more in the way of cloud and rain for wales and the south—west of england, elsewhere, just a passing shower, perhaps. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko — our top stories. iraqi forces say they've taken control of the main base of the so—called islamic state in mosul. we report from the frontline. the remaining is militants have been driven from here but at what cost? 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