A former university lecturer in Multan, who was booked on blasphemy charges and arrested by police on March 13, 2013, was on Saturday sentenced to death by a district and sessions court, Dawn reported.
Formerly a visiting lecturer at the Department of English Literature of the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, Junaid Hafeez, according to Amnesty International, was charged with blasphemy over Facebook uploads.
He was also in the process of getting a graduate degree in English Literature when he had been accused of blasphemy and arrested. The trial of the case had started in 2014.
On Saturday, Additional Sessions Judge Kashif Qayyum sentenced Hafeez to death and imposed a Rs0.5 million fine under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC); in case of default he will undergo further imprisonment of six months.
He was also sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 295-B, and 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 under Section 295-A of the PPC.
According to the court’s short judgement, “All the sentences shall run consecutively and the accused would not be entitled to the benefit of Section 382-B CrPC because in case of blasphemer, this court has got no circumstance for taking [a] lenient view and it is also not permitted in Islam.”
Under Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code, the period of detention of a prisoner has to be considered in the prison term when a person is convicted by a trial court.
Hafeez has been lodged in the high-security ward number 2 of New Central Jail Multan.
His previous lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was shot dead in May 2014 in his office.
Hafeez’s parents had earlier this year appealed to former chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa to look into their son’s case. They sought justice for their son, fearing for his mental and physical health.
They had said their son had been languishing in solitary confinement in a cell of the Central Jail, Multan, for the last six years on the false charge of blasphemy.
“Due to transfer of many judges, delaying tactics of prosecution witnesses, and difficulties finding adequate legal counsel for the defence because of the sensitive nature of the case, our son continues to await justice in a fabricated case,” Junaid’s parents had said in a written appeal to the chief justice.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence. Anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.
Rights groups have said the blasphemy laws are routinely abused to seek vengeance and settle personal scores.
