Daily Times

An additional sessions judge on Saturday awarded death penalty to blasphemy accused Junaid Hafeez, son of Hafeez Naseer, in Multan.

Judge Kashif Qayyum, in the verdict, awarded death penalty and fine of Rs 500,000 under Section 295-C; life imprisonment under Section 295-B and fine of Rs 100,000 under section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Junaid Hafeez has been in solitary confinement since June 2014 after he was attacked by fellow inmates in Central Jail Multan. He was arrested on March 13, 2013 on the charges of uploading blasphemous material on Facebook and an FIR No 103/13 u/s 295-B, 295-C dated 13-03-2013 was registered against him at Alpa Police Station, Multan.

The students of Junaid Hafeez accused him of uploading blasphemous material on Facebook and using blasphemous language during a lecture. The family of Junaid Hafeez continues to get threats and harassed for defending their son. The father of Junaid Hafeez failed to find any lawyer. Later on, Rashid Rehman, an organiser of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, who agreed to take up the case, was brutally murdered by religious hardliners in his chamber at District Court Multan in May 2014. The case has been delaying due to the transfer of various judges, absence of prosecution witnesses and absence of adequate legal counsel for defence because of the reprisal from extremist religious groups.

Advocate Shehbaz Gurmani and Advocate Asad Jamal, legal counsel of Junaid Hafeez, said that they were present at Central Jail Multan where the decision was announced. They said that they would appeal in the high court for justice. They said that former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer had rightly termed it a “black law” and “dark judgement”.

Social rights activist Farah Ali Khan condemned the decision of court. Junaid Hafeez is a bright star and an intelligent brain, she said. Justice cannot be expected in presence of severe death threats to the victim and his family by religious fanatics, she added.

It is pertinent to mention that a few days ago, before the final arguments in the blasphemy trial, a Namoos-e-Risalat conference was held at the Office of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) situated near Kalma Chowk, Multan. Participants namely Dr Safdar Hashmi, district ameer JI Multan; Ayub Mughal, leader JUP-N; Allama Khalid Mahmood Nadeem, leader Markazi Jamiat Ahle-Hadith; Hafiz Sheikh Umar, ex-district ameer JUI-F Multan, and Maulana Moavia Ansari, leader JUI-F Multan maintained that they had conveyed the sensitivity of the issue to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Religious Affairs Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri.

They further said that some elements with vested interests and the international community were running a propaganda campaign on the social media against Namoos-e-Risalat Act and trying to protect Junaid Hafeez. The said that they would not accept any kind of pressure by the international lobby, and that they would not allow anyone to give any relief to Junaid Hafeez.

On December 10, the International Human Rights Day, US religious freedom commission placed his name on its list of global victims. However, the US in its 2019 annual blacklist for religious freedom violations kept Pakistan for a consecutive second year and ignored India despite the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

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.

In 2017, a mob in Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan beat up a student, Mashal Khan, to death after accusing him of blasphemy over social media.

Meanwhile, last year, the Supreme Court acquitted Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman earlier condemned to death on blasphemy charges, after accepting her appeal against her sentence. So far, no one has been executed for blasphemy in the country.