The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday sought arguments from the prosecution on the admissibility of electronic evidence in the appeal of former Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) lecturer Junaid Hafeez, who was sentenced to death in a blasphemy case.
Hafeez was arrested in 2013 after students accused him of uploading blasphemous material on social media and using blasphemous language during lectures.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Sadiq Mahmud Khurram and Justice Muhammad Jawad Zafar heard the appeal, where Hafeez’s counsel, Asad Jamal, and prosecution lawyer Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry were present.
The bench particularly sought the prosecution’s position on electronic evidence presented in the case, including a Facebook page allegedly linked to Hafeez.
The court subsequently adjourned the proceedings, initially indicating that the matter would be heard on October 7.
Read: Why is Junaid Hafeez still languishing in jail?
However, following a request from Hafeez’s counsel for additional time to prepare arguments, the judges said the next hearing date would be announced later.
At the outset of the proceedings, the bench noted that formal notices had not previously been issued to the parties after Hafeez’s appeal was transferred from the LHC’s Multan bench to its principal seat.
The appeal was moved to Lahore in December 2021 at the request of Hafeez’s lawyer. During Tuesday’s hearing, the required notices were issued and received in court by both lawyers.
Hafeez, who served as a visiting lecturer in the English literature department at BZU, was arrested on March 13, 2013.
His trial, relating to alleged Facebook uploads, commenced in 2014 and was later shifted to Multan Central Jail in April that year because of security concerns.
On December 21, 2019, a Multan district and sessions court sentenced Hafeez to death on blasphemy charges.
Read More: Blasphemy case: Multan court sentences Junaid Hafeez to death
He filed an appeal against the conviction in 2020, but proceedings on the appeal had been postponed on several occasions.
