Sher Ali Afridi

Sher Ali Afridi (died 11 March 1872) was the assassin of the Viceroy of British India, Lord Mayo whom he killed on 8 February 1872.

An Indian soldier of Pashtun background, he was convicted of murder and imprisoned at the penal colony of Port Blair, Andaman Islands. in 1872. The British sources described him as a "fearless soldier and one who would have been selected for any service of danger".

Early life Sher Ali was born in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber Agency of the North-West Frontier Province of British India into the Kuki Khēl Afridi tribe of Pashtuns. He worked for the colonial government in the Punjab Police in the 1860s. Afridi worked for the Commissioner of Peshawar. He was in colonial army at Ambala in a cavalry regiment. He worked under Major Hugh James as a cavalry trooper in Peshawar and as a mounted orderly for Reynell Taylor, who awarded Sher Ali with a horse, pistol and certificate.

Transportation to Andaman In 1867, he killed Hyder who was one of his enemies at Peshawar (Indian territory where British jurisdiction applied) in broad daylight. Although he pleaded innocence, he was sentenced to death on 2 April 1867. On appeal, his sentence was reduced by a judge, Colonel Pollock,

Aftermath The murder of the Viceroy, the supreme official of India appointed by the British Crown, sent shockwaves throughout Britain and British India. Sher Ali Afridi wanted to kill two British people, the Superintendent and the Viceroy, as a revenge for his sentence, which he thought was more severe than he deserved. He waited for a full day and only in the evening, found an opportunity to kill the Viceroy. He said that he killed on the instructions of God. He readily posed for photographs. Some jihadist-inspired prisoners were jailed at Andaman during the same period but the British found no link to the murder of the Viceroy and the presence of these prisoners. Sher Ali Afridi was condemned to death and was hanged on the gallows of Viper Island prison, on 11 March 1872.