Pakistani university lecturer gets the death penalty for blasphemy

A Pakistani professor was sentenced to death on Saturday for blasphemy. The 33-year-old Junaid Hafeez is said to have made insulting remarks on social media about the women of the prophet Mohammed in 2013.

The university lecturer’s lawyer called the court’s conviction in the city of Multan “very unfortunate” and announced an appeal. Amnesty International describes the lecturer’s conviction as a “judicial error”. “The government must release him immediately and drop all charges against him,” said Rabio Mehmood on behalf of the human rights organization.

The criminal case around Hafeez leads to much commotion nationally and internationally. The professor, who has been in jail for six years, has recently been assisted by several lawyers. Two men shotted one of them in his office in 2014 for defending Hafeez.

The perpetrators fled. His current lawyer also received several death threats. Partly for this reason, the court was strictly protected on Saturday. In Pakistan, there are said to be around forty people in death row because they have been accused of blasphemy.