The Lahore High Court (LHC) will hear an appeal on March 19, 2025, challenging the death sentence of former university lecturer Junaid Hafeez.
Authorities arrested Hafeez on March 13, 2013, for alleged blasphemous Facebook posts. He had previously worked as a visiting faculty member in the Department of English Literature at Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) in Multan. His trial began in 2014, and on December 21, 2019, a Multan district and sessions court sentenced him to death under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which criminalizes derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet.
The court also sentenced Hafeez to life imprisonment under Section 295-B for allegedly defiling the Holy Quran. Additionally, he received a 10-year prison term under Section 295-A for actions deemed deliberately offensive to religious sentiments. Authorities imposed fines totaling Rs0.6 million, with additional imprisonment if he defaults on payments.
Hafeez has faced severe hardships in prison. His initial defense lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was murdered in May 2014 after receiving threats for taking the case. Since his arrest, authorities have kept Hafeez in solitary confinement, raising concerns about his mental and physical health.
A division bench of the LHC, consisting of Justice Shehram Sarwar and Justice Sardar Akbar Ali, will preside over the appeal. International human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and United Nations experts, have strongly criticized Hafeez’s conviction. They called the verdict a “travesty of justice” and urged Pakistani courts to overturn the sentence.
