Junaid Hafeez, a former university lecturer and Fullbright scholar was thrown in prison 13 years ago under Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws for comments he allegedly made on Facebook. After a trial that spanned years, a court in 2019 sentenced him to death. Last week, a high court in Lahore began hearing Hafeez's appeal, raising hopes his conviction could be overturned.
"I want to see my son free and back home. We are fighting a very difficult battle," Junaid Hafeez's father, Hafeez-un-Naseer, told DW. Naseer said he met with his son in prison last Thursday through a glass window, speaking to him by phone.
"This case has taken everything from us," he said. Saif-ul-Malook, a lawyer representing Hafeez, said the academic has read thousands of books during his years in prison. His health is fine, but he is frustrated inside the jail," Malook told DW.
"I am hopeful that under this bench, he will be released." Before his arrest, Hafeez was a Fulbright scholar and had studied in the United States. He later returned to Pakistan and began working as a lecturer in English literature at Bahauddin Zakariya University in the city of Multan. Human rights groups say that shortly after he began working there as a graduate student in 2011, he found himself targeted by an Islamist student group who took issue with what they considered Hafeez's "liberal" teaching.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Hafeez was arrested on March 13, 2013, accused of using a fake Facebook profile to insult the Prophet Muhammad in a closed group called "So-Called Liberals of Pakistan." His father has said he was set up by the Islamists on campus, who wanted to get one of their own into an open position at the university. Because of security concerns, legal proceedings were later moved to Multan Central Jail, and were repeatedly delayed until he was sentenced to death by a trial court in Multan. Hafeez challenged the verdict in 2020, and his appeal has yet to be decided.
The Lahore High Court heard Hafeez's appeal on September 22 before a two-member bench. The judges issued notices to the prosecution and the complainant and asked for arguments on the electronic evidence being relied upon in the case. This includes Facebook material attributed to Hafeez.
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