Pakistan: UN experts urge HC to clear convicted Junaid Hafeez of blasphemy charges

The United Nations Human Rights experts on Friday, December 27, called on Pakistan High Court to clear liberal academic Junaid Hafeez of blasphemy charges and overturn his death sentence. According to reports, the experts described Hafeez's condemnation as a 'travesty of justice'. They further urged that the senior judges should acquit Hafeez on appeal. 

Hafeez was held in solitary confinement for six years awaiting his trial for allegedly spreading anti-Islamic ideas through Facebook posts. According to reports, the reason stated for his confinement was that he would have been killed by the general population. However, according to his lawyer, the professor was framed by his students who belonged to a militant Islamic party for his liberal and secular views. 

Junaid Hafeez's conviction

The professor was arrested in 2013 after some students at the university in Multan accused him of blasphemy. The controversial law of blasphemy in Pakistan states automatic death penalty for anyone accused of insulting God, Islam and other religious figures. In December, he was also placed in the list of global victims by a United States religious freedom commission.

The Pakistani High Court convicted Junaid Hafeez in a blasphemy case on December 21. His conviction has fueled a massive outrage. A South Asia researcher for Amnesty International, Rabia Mehmood labelled the ruling for a death sentence to Junaid Hafeez as 'vile and gross miscarriage of justice'.

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About Junaid Hafeez

According to reports, Hafeez had quit his studies at Pakistan's top medical college to pursue his passion for art and literature. He has also secured a Fulbright scholarship and attended Jackson State University in Mississippi where he specialised in American literature, photography, and theatre. 

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Read: Junaid Hafeez blasphemy case: Academic sentenced to death in Pakistan