NEW DELHI: A court jailed 13 people Friday over an attack on a professor whose hand was chopped off because of his “anti-Islam remarks.”

The group were handed jail terms ranging from three to eight years at a court in the southern state of Kerala after being convicted last week on charges including attempted murder and conspiracy.

T. J. Joseph, a lecturer at Kerala’s Newman College, was attacked in June 2010 following an allegation that a Malayalam language question paper he had set for his students included anti-Islam remarks. Joseph has denied the allegation of blasphemy.

The attackers dragged Joseph out of his car on his way home from Catholic mass before severing his wrist with a sword. The attack caused widespread outrage in Kerala, a southern state with a large Catholic population.