A University Don Has Been Sentenced To Death For Blasphemy

A court in Pakistan on Saturday sentenced a University Professor to death for blasphemy via a law that critics say is often used to target liberal and minority activists.

The professor, 33, Junaid Hafeez has been arrested since March 2013 for allegedly writing and posting derogatory statements against Prophet Mohammed on Social media.

Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in the conservative Muslim majority in Pakistan, where laws against it are usually a potential death penalty. Unconfirmed allegations have led to vigilante murders and mob lynching.

Hafeez’s sentence was proclaimed in the central city of Multan, where he was a university Don as at the time of his arrest. Asad Jamal, his counsel as referred to the judgment as most unfortunate.

Jamal to AFP “We will appeal the Judgment”

Amnesty International, speaking through Rabia Mehmood, has also said Junaid Hafeez’s death sentence is a gross miscarriage of justice and the verdict; it is extremely surprising and disappointing.

His safety, his family safety, and the safety of his legal team must also be guaranteed by the authorities.

In 2014, Hafeez’s lawyer was killed after getting death threats during a hearing.

Presently in Pakistan, about 40 people convicted of blasphemy are on death row, according to a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Recall that in October 2019, Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who had spent over 8-years on death row for blasphemy was released. This was possible after violent protests across Pakistan, which left large swathes of the country paralyzed.