Pakistani man held for cannibalism after baby's head is found in home

Two brothers arrested for the second time over accusations of cannibalism appeared in court yesterday, police officials said, in a sensational case that has horrified Pakistanis.

Police raided the house in a remote village in Punjab province after neighbours complained of a foul smell and found the head of the two-day-old baby inside.

Householder Mohammad Arif admitted eating the child after his brother Farman Ali stole the body from a graveyard in Darya Khan village, around 300 kilometres south of Islamabad.

Ali was arrested later on Monday after a search of the area, said Ameer Abdullah, police chief of Bhakkar district where the village is located.

Arif and his brother were arrested for eating human corpses in the same village in April 2011 and served two years in prison. "Arif has been arrested and he has confessed that his brother brought the dead body of the newborn from the nearby graveyard," said Abdullah. "Arif told police that both of them later cooked the dead body and ate it."

There is no specific law against cannibalism in Pakistan's penal code, so they have been charged with desecrating a dead body and public-order offences.