The Lahore High Court (LHC) is ready to hear the appeal against the death sentence of former university lecturer Junaid Hafiz on March 19, which came out on Saturday.
Hafiz, a former visiting lecturer of the English Literature Department of Bahaden Zakaria University (BZU), was sentenced to death by Multan District and Sessions Court on December 21, 2019 on charges of blasphemy.
Earlier, a visiting lecturer at the English Literature of the BZU Department in Multan, Hafiz, was registered on the case of humiliating charges and was arrested by the police on March 13, 2013. The trial of the case began in 2014.
A according to A List A division bench, headed by Justice Shahram Sarwar, issued by the LHC and a division bench, including Justice Sardar Akbar Ali, will make a criminal appeal on March 19 (Wednesday).
According to Amnesty InternationalHafiz, who was also in the process of graduating in English literature, was accused of blasphemy on Facebook uploads.
The court had found Hafiz guilty of all the charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison 295-A (deliberately and malicious activities, insulting his religion or religious beliefs, under 10 years in prison. Section 295-B (the Qur’an, defect, etc.) under the term of life and death sentence under section 295-C Pakistan Code of Conduct (PPC)
In addition to the death penalty, Additional District and Sessions Judge Kashif Qayyim also fined Rs 0.5 million and Rs 0.1 million under section 295-C and 295-A, respectively. In case of default, the Hafiz will have to go through an additional one -year imprisonment.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 295-B, and 10 years of severe imprisonment and a 10-year tough imprisonment and a fine of Rs 100,000 under section 295-A. According to the court, all the sentences were to be run consistently.
Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission had said that the decision fears that they have been handed over to educational.
Hafiz was registered in the High Security Ward No. 2 of the new Central Jail Multan, when his sentence was announced.
A month before handing over the sentence, the lecturer’s parents appealed to Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa’s justice for justice for his son, fear of his mental and physical health. He said that Hafiz had been in prison for false charges of blasphemy since 2013.
At least seven judges were transferred during the Hafiz case. More than 15 prosecution witnesses recorded their statements against Hafiz, while 11 others were not called after the unrelated declaration.
Due to security concerns, the trial was shifted to Multan Central Jail in April 2014 by the Punjab Department of Punjab.
Rashid Rehman, a former Hafiz lawyer, was shot dead in his office in May 2014. A month ago, the HRCP expressed serious concerns when the death threats were extended to the Commission’s Special Task Force Coordinator, Rehman.
In December 2014, another lawyer representing the Hafiz also received a threat from the militant Islamic State Group, warning him to withdraw from the case.
