- ADSJ also awards life imprisonment, 10 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 to each accused
- Court rules death sentence of the accused persons shall not be executed unless confirmed by LHC
RAWALPINDI: A District and Sessions court in Rawalpindi on Tuesday handed down capital punishment to five blasphemy accused along with life imprisonment and Rs6.5 million in total fine in a blasphemy case registered against them by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Tariq Ayub pronounced the verdict in the court, packed with lawyers and a large number of visitors. The court declared that the five criminals – Muhammad Arsalan, Ali Abbas, Faisal Rehan, Khurram Afzal and Zunair Sikandar, had been sentenced to death.
According to the court verdict, the five accused were all sentenced to death under Section 295C, awarded life imprisonment under Section 295B, and awarded 10 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 under Section 295A.
The accused were additionally sentenced to three years imprisonment and handed a fine of Rs100,000 for violating Section 298A (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of holy personages) of the PPC and awarded another seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 under Section 11 of Peca.
“All the above-mentioned sentences of imprisonment shall run concurrently,” the judge ordered. “Benefit of the section 382B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) is given to the accused persons, death sentence of the accused persons shall not be executed unless the same is confirmed by the Honourable Lahore High Court, Lahore.”
The ADSJ ruled that the convicts had committed a heinous crime and that they did not deserve any concession. After the verdict, the convicts were shifted to the Adiala Jail amid tight security.
The FIA had filed the case under Sections 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 295B (defiling, etc, of [a] copy of Holy Quran) and 295C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).
Separately, police in Lahore told AFP on Tuesday that YouTube star, Rajab Butt, was charged with blasphemy for naming his perfume brand after the law section of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that is related to blasphemy.
In a recent promotional video, since deleted from his social media accounts, Butt launched his perfume, whose name referred to the blasphemy legislation in the penal code. The perfume publicity sparked ire, prompting the leader of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to file a complaint late on Monday.
“Our religious sentiments have been hurt,” TLP leader Haider Ali Shah Gillani said. “There are numerous sections in the penal code but why did he choose blasphemy-related sections to name a perfume? This means you acknowledge the offence and are celebrating it,” he added.
Butt issued an apology video on Sunday, asserting that he was not against the blasphemy laws. “I apologise for the words I uttered during the launch of the perfume,” he said. “I apologise and announce the discontinuation of this perfume,” he added.
A police charge sheet seen by AFP and authenticated by a police official on Tuesday details the accusations against Butt, including blasphemy and cybercrime. In other legal troubles, Butt pleaded guilty in January to owning an undocumented wild animal. However, he avoided the jail term.
