Smith was eventually martyred by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, while in the local jail awaiting trial for treason.

NEWYORKER: I, Nephi

"Five brave soldiers have been martyred today, " Mr. Abdullah said, adding that he was awaiting further information on the attack.

WSJ: Five Indian Paramilitaries Killed in Srinagar

Christians were thought to be martyred in the amphitheatre during Roman times.

BBC: Pope Francis leads Good Friday services in Rome

Ms Kaplan concludes, nevertheless, that Brasillach's execution was wrong, not least because it enabled his supporters to keep alive the myth of martyred brilliance.

ECONOMIST: French writers

Supporters of Swartz have painted him a zealous advocate of public online access, a martyred hero hounded to his death by the government he antagonized.

WSJ: MIT to release documents about activist Swartz

Mr Vajpayee has acquired the charisma that once belonged to members of Mrs Gandhi's dynasty: her martyred husband, Rajiv, his martyred mother, Indira, and Indira's father, Jawaharlal Nehru.

ECONOMIST: Greater expectations

Women stand out in South Asian politics, he explains, because they are assumed to lack characters of their own and can take on the charisma of their (often martyred) husbands or fathers.

ECONOMIST: India��s choices

Barack Obama has made a concerted attempt to present himself as a latter-day Lincoln, keeping a portrait of the martyred president on his desk and taking his oath of office on Lincoln's Bible.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

"Fearful of the outcome, King Angus led prayers for deliverance and was rewarded by seeing a cloud formation of a white Saltire - the diagonal cross against which Saint Andrew had been martyred - against a clear blue sky, " writes Mr Reid.

BBC: Saltire