Tag: death sentence

  • Woman sentenced to death for online blasphemy under PECA laws

    Woman sentenced to death for online blasphemy under PECA laws

    A Christian woman was senten­ced to death on Thursday for committing online blasphemy under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).

    Dawn reports that the woman is a mother of four. She had previously sought bail from both the trial court and the Islamabad High Court (IHC), but her bail applications got rejected by both.

    Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka convicted the woman under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 11 of PECA laws. While Section 295 strictly pertains to blasphemy laws, Section 11 of PECA laws deals with hate speech.

    The law states that “whoever prepares or disseminates information, through any information system or device, that advances or is likely to advance interfaith, sectarian, or racial hatred shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years or with a fine or with both”.

    Along with the death penalty, the court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on the woman.

    A private citizen by the name of Shiraz Ahmed lodged a complaint against the woman in the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cyber crime wing. The case was then brought to the court.

    The first information report (FIR) states that the womam is accused of pos­ting blasphemous content about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) on social media in September 2020.

    However, FIA registered the case against her on July 29, 2021.

  • Rape convict’s death penalty converted to life imprisonment by LHC

    Rape convict’s death penalty converted to life imprisonment by LHC

    Lahore High Court (LHC) has on Tuesday changed the death sentence of a man convicted of raping an 11-month-old to life imprisonment. The decision was made in light of a negative DNA report and the age of the convict at the time of the incident.

    Justice Aalia Neelum headed the two-judge bench hearing the case, where she remarked, “We have concluded that the prosecution has proven its case against the appellant, Muhammad Rafique, beyond any doubt. However, the factors that have persuaded us not to uphold the capital sentence of the appellant are the negative DNA report and the appellant’s age at the time of the incident.”

    The verdict states that the High Court has maintained the fine of three lac rupees as charged by the trial court but the court believes that the death sentence awarded to the appellant is quite “harsh” considering the age of the convict at the time of the crime and the negative result of the DNA report. As per law, the accused always gets the benefit of the doubt and in this case this results in mitigating the severity of the punishment by changing it to life imprisonment.

    Justice Neelum observed that there is no doubt that the baby girl was raped because in our traditional society, no parent of a minor girl will risk her future by falsely implicating somebody of raping her.

    The case against Muhammad Rafique was registered back in 2019 at a police station in Kasur.

  • Almost two years to Noor’s murder, Zahir Jaffer challenges death sentence

    Almost two years to Noor’s murder, Zahir Jaffer challenges death sentence

    Zahir Jaffer has lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the death sentence he was given for murdering Noor Mukadam in 2021 in Islamabad.

    Jaffer has argued that the trial and the Islamabad High Court (IHC) failed to recognize the fundamental deficiencies in the First Information Report (FIR) and that their judgments were based on an incorrect understanding of the evidence, Hassnat Malik has reportsd for Express Trbuine.

    On Feburary 2, 2022, a sessions court sentenced Zahir Jaffer to death for a murder that prompted national outrage. The victim,
    27-year-old Noor, was found beheaded at Jaffer’s residence in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 Sector on July 20, 2021. She was the daughter of a diplomat and had known Jaffer.

    The gruesome murder sent shockwaves across the country and sparked nationwide calls for justice for Noor, cumulating in a sensational trial and eventual convictions.

  • Three men sentenced to death for gang raping teenager in Kasur

    A gender-based violence court on Thursday sentenced three men to death for the gang-rape of a mentally challenged minor girl, reported Dawn.

    As per reports, the court also imposed a fine to compensate the family of the survivor.

    The accused abducted a 13-year-old girl from Eisanagar on Aug 21, 2019, held her at a deserted house and raped her. Locals and family found her at the house of Javed, one of the four accused, after they heard the girl crying.

    Read More: Four missing girls ‘escape abduction from prostitute dealers’

    The survivor’s father filed an FIR at the B-Divison police station near Essa Nagri. The suspects were arrested after their DNA reports confirmed the rape.

    Two years later in 2021, Additional District and Sessions Judge Sajawal Khan awarded the death penalty to Javed, Shaimoon Masih and Haroon Masih and acquitted Younis by giving him the benefit of the doubt.

  • Zahir Jaffer can’t be killed in a police encounter because of active Islamabad ladies: Sheikh Rasheed

    Zahir Jaffer can’t be killed in a police encounter because of active Islamabad ladies: Sheikh Rasheed

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Monday said that they [government] cannot have the Noor Mukadam case suspect, Zahir Jaffer, killed in a police encounter. He was addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

    Rasheed sarcastically said that the “active ladies in Islamabad” and “large social media” have ruled out the possibility of an extrajudicial killing.

    The interior minister added that the investigation is complete and the forensic test has been conducted. He said that all the evidence has been provided to the court. He hoped that the court will hand down a death sentence to Zahir Jaffer.

    A local court in Islamabad on Monday sent Zahir Jaffer, the key suspect in the Noor Mukadam murder case, to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

  • ‘Inhumane’: SC says ‘mentally-ill’ death row prisoners cannot be executed

    ‘Inhumane’: SC says ‘mentally-ill’ death row prisoners cannot be executed

    The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of three “mentally-ill” prisoners to life imprisonment, saying executing a person who doesn’t understand the rationale behind their punishment is “inhumane” and doesn’t meet the ends of justice.

    The apex court announced this verdict on a point whether or not mentally ill death-row prisoners can be executed. The pleas were filed on the behalf of Kanizan Bibi, Imdad Ali and Ghulam Abbas who have spent 30, 18 and 14 years on death row, respectively, while exhibiting acute symptoms of mental illness, reported Dawn.

    A five-judge bench, headed by Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah gave this verdict at SC’s Lahore registry.

    In its verdict, the apex court that not every mental illness shall automatically qualify for an exemption from carrying out the capital sentence.

    “This exemption will be applicable only in that case where a medical board, consisting of mental health professionals, certifies after a thorough examination and evaluation that the condemned prisoner no longer has higher mental functions to appreciate the rationale behind the sentence of death awarded to them,” the judgement stated.

    “It is with the developing nature of medical science that scope of these terms may also evolve. Therefore, we are of the view that a limited definition of the terms ‘mental disorder’ or ‘mental illness’ should be avoided, and the provincial legislatures may […] consider to appropriately amend the relevant provisions of mental health laws to cater for medically recognised mental and behavioral disorders as notified by the World Health Organisation.”

    The top court also barred the use of “stigmatic labels”, like “unsound mind”, “lunatic” and “insane” to refer to the prisoners who suffer from mental disorders.

    “Latest legislations all over the world do not use such terms. Therefore, we consider it appropriate to direct that the terms ‘unsoundness of mind’ and ‘unsound mind’ occurring in Pakistan Penal Code, the Criminal Code of Procedure and the Prison Rules be substituted with term ‘mental disorder’ or ‘mental illness’.

    “The term ‘lunatic’ wherever it occurs shall also be substituted appropriately,” the judgement stated.

  • Singaporean court hands out death sentence through video-link

    Singaporean court hands out death sentence through video-link

    A Singaporean court has handed via video-link the death sentence to a Malaysian man, Punithan Genasan, who was found guilty of being involved in drug trafficking.

    He facilitated the trafficking of 28.5 kilograms of heroin back in 2011, which has a zero-tolerance policy for illegal drug use. He was then extradited in 2016, later he was found guilty and sentenced to death via a Zoom call by high court officials.  

    Singapore’s Supreme Court said in a statement that in line with measures to minimise the further spread of the COVID-19, courts have been conducting hearings, including hearings on criminal matters remotely.

    Therefore, for the safety of all involved in legal proceedings, trials are being conducted virtually. Genasan’s lawyer did not object to the sentence being handed out via video conference.

    Since much of the western world was placed on coronavirus lockdown in late February through March, Zoom’s usage has skyrocketed. This has led to questions about what business the software is and isn’t fit to handle.

    Companies like Google and SpaceX have banned employees from using Zoom out of security concerns. School districts in New York, as well as teachers throughout Singapore, have also been barred from using the software.

  • VIDEO: Masked men on unregistered vehicle seek dismissal of judges who sentenced Musharraf

    VIDEO: Masked men on unregistered vehicle seek dismissal of judges who sentenced Musharraf

    At least two masked men on an unregistered vehicle have been spotted in Sialkot, putting up banners seeking dismissal of judges who convicted former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf last week.

    A special court trying the ex-preisdent had last week sentenced him to death for treason. While analysts had hinted at a possible rift among institutions over the death penalty for former army chief Musharraf, the detailed verdict of the case had drawn ire of many after one of the judges proposed public hanging.

    A week later, a video going viral over the internet has shown masked men putting up on Sialkot’s Khawaja Safdar Road some banners demanding dismissal of the judges who sentenced Musharraf.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/BdTamiz/status/1208788091454054401

    “We’ve been told to do so,” they can be heard as saying when asked about the person or organisation behind the banners, and do not specify who were the orders from.

  • Musharraf’s exit: ‘PML-N was powerless after Raheel Sharif’s recommendation’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Pervaiz Rashid has said that former military ruler General (r) Pervez Musharraf, who was recently sentenced to death in abstentia for treason, “was allowed to go abroad for medical treatment on the recommendation of then army chief Raheel Sharif”, and the government stood “powerless”.

    “We [the PML-N government] didn’t have the power to stop him,” said the former information minister, who was sacked in 2016 following the Dawn Leaks fiasco that revealed the details of a high level civil-military meeting discussing the issue of Pakistan’s banned outfits.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Rasheed has also claimed that Gen (r) Raheel Sharif wanted an extension in his tenure as the army chief, but the then government of prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif refused it.

    However, a former army general rejected Rasheed’s claims that the PML-N had turned down Gen (r) Raheel’s request for an extension in his tenure. “In fact, the PML-N government had offered to give Gen (r) Raheel a promotion by making him a field marshal,” Lt Gen (r) Amjad Shoaib said while speaking to the TV channel.

    He added that Shehbaz Sharif and then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar wanted to give Gen (r) Raheel an extension in his tenure as the army chief. Shoaib said that Raheel had announced 10 months before his retirement that he would not take extension.

    “Raheel Sharif had an offer from Saudi Arabia,” the former military official said.

    In 2015, Saudi Arabia announced that it would form a new Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition force. Gen (r) Raheel Sharif was appointed the alliance’s chief in January 2017, months after his retirement as the army chief.

  • ‘No lenient view permitted’: BZU teacher sentenced to death for ‘blasphemy’

    ‘No lenient view permitted’: BZU teacher sentenced to death for ‘blasphemy’

    A former university lecturer in Multan, who was booked on blasphemy charges and arrested by police on March 13, 2013, was on Saturday sentenced to death by a district and sessions court, Dawn reported.

    Formerly a visiting lecturer at the Department of English Literature of the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, Junaid Hafeez, according to Amnesty International, was charged with blasphemy over Facebook uploads.

    He was also in the process of getting a graduate degree in English Literature when he had been accused of blasphemy and arrested. The trial of the case had started in 2014.

    On Saturday, Additional Sessions Judge Kashif Qayyum sentenced Hafeez to death and imposed a Rs0.5 million fine under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC); in case of default he will undergo further imprisonment of six months.

    He was also sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 295-B, and 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 under Section 295-A of the PPC.

    According to the court’s short judgement, “All the sentences shall run consecutively and the accused would not be entitled to the benefit of Section 382-B CrPC because in case of blasphemer, this court has got no circumstance for taking [a] lenient view and it is also not permitted in Islam.”

    Under Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code, the period of detention of a prisoner has to be considered in the prison term when a person is convicted by a trial court.

    Hafeez has been lodged in the high-security ward number 2 of New Central Jail Multan.

    His previous lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was shot dead in May 2014 in his office.

    Hafeez’s parents had earlier this year appealed to former chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa to look into their son’s case. They sought justice for their son, fearing for his mental and physical health.

    They had said their son had been languishing in solitary confinement in a cell of the Central Jail, Multan, for the last six years on the false charge of blasphemy.

    “Due to transfer of many judges, delaying tactics of prosecution witnesses, and difficulties finding adequate legal counsel for the defence because of the sensitive nature of the case, our son continues to await justice in a fabricated case,” Junaid’s parents had said in a written appeal to the chief justice.

    Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence. Anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.

    Rights groups have said the blasphemy laws are routinely abused to seek vengeance and settle personal scores.