Lahore: A Peshawar High Court circuit bench in Abbottabad on Tuesday suspended an anti-terrorism court’s conviction of 25 men in Mashal Khan lynching case.
A two-judge bench gave this order on appeals filed by these men, each of whom was handed a three-year prison term by the ATC.
The PHC bench also ordered their release on bail.
On February 7, the ATC sentenced the prime suspect to death and announced 25-year prison terms for five others.
The ATC awarded four years of jail term to 25 others and acquitted 26 suspects.
The court had earlier reserved the verdict on January 30 after prosecution and defence counsel concluded their arguments in the case.
Nearly 50 prosecution witnesses testified against the suspects during the course of the hearing conducted inside Haripur Central Jail.
The prosecution charged 61 people in the case, while 57 of them were arrested and produced before the court for trial. Four others remain at large.
Mashal, 23, a student at Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU) in Mardan, was beaten and shot to death on April 13, by a mob, falsely accusing him of posting blasphemous posts on social media.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Pakistan disposed of a suo motu proceeding on Mashal Khan’s lynching case.
Published in Daily Times, February 28th 2018.
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