Academic Junaid Hafeez sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by Multan court

A district and sessions court on Saturday sentenced Junaid Hafeez, formerly a university lecturer in Multan, to death on blasphemy charges.

Former a visiting lecturer at the Department of English Literature of the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, Hafeez was booked on blasphemy charges and was arrested by police on March 13, 2013. The trial of the case started in 2014.

Additional Sessions Judge Kashif Qayyum sentenced Hafeez to death and a fine of Rs0.5 million under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). 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.

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 2017 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.