LHC hears Junaid Hafeez's appeal in blasphemy case, seeks prosecution's arguments on admissibility of digital evidence

LHC hears Junaid Hafeez's appeal in blasphemy case, seeks prosecution's arguments on admissibility of digital evidence.

Key points

• Wajih Ahmad Sheikh Published September 22, 2026 Updated September 22, 2026 11: 24pm.
• He was sentenced to death by a Multan district and sessions court on December 21, 2019 on blasphemy charges and subsequently appealed his conviction in 2020.
• The trial was shifted to the Multan Central Jail in April 2014 by the Punjab home department due to security reservations.
• Hafeez was sentenced to death in 2019 and his appeal against his conviction has been pending since 2020.
• One of Hafeez's previous lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was shot dead in May 2014 in his office.

Wajih Ahmad Sheikh Published September 22, 2026 Updated September 22, 2026 11: 24pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) took up former university lecturer Junaid Hafeez's appeal against his death sentence in a blasphemy case on Tuesday, seeking arguments from the prosecution on the admissibility of electronic evidence.

For context, a two-judge bench, comprising Justices Sadiq Mahmud Khurram and Muhammad Jawad Zafar, took up the appeal on Tuesday as complainant's lawyer, Advocate Athar Shah Bokhari, and Hafeez's lawyer, Advocate Asad Jamal, appeared before the court.

Notably, the hearing began with the bench observing that formal notices had not been issued to the parties since the transfer of Hafeez's appeal from the Multan bench to the principal seat.

Notably, the case was transferred on the request of Hafeez's lawyer in December 2021.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the LHC issued notices on the appeal. It the lawyers for the prosecution and the complainant received in the court.

According to The court further, it would like to hear the prosecution on the admissibility of electronic evidence involved in the case and the Facebook page attributed to Hafeez.

It then decided to adjourn the hearing till Oct 7, but the complainant's counsel sought a longer adjournment to prepare his arguments.

For context, the bench then remarked it would announce the date of the next hearing afterwards and eventually scheduled the hearing for Oct 10.

Hafeez – a former visiting lecturer at the Department of English Literature of the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) – was arrested by police on March 13, 2013 and his trial in the blasphemy case, linked to Facebook uploads, began in 2014.

At least seven judges were transferred through the course of Hafeez's case. As plenty of as 15 prosecution witnesses recorded their statements against Hafeez while 11 others were not called after being declared irrelevant.

For context, the trial was shifted to the Multan Central Jail in April 2014 by the Punjab home department due to security reservations.

One of Hafeez's previous lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was shot dead in May 2014 in his office. The month prior to it, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had expressed serious reservations when death threats were extended to Rehman, additionally the special task force coordinator of the commission.

In December 2014, another lawyer representing Hafeez additionally received a threat letter from the militant Islamic State group, warning him to withdraw from the case. The hearing of the appeal has additionally been deferred multiple times.

Wajih Ahmad Sheikh is a Lahore-based correspondent for Dawn with over two decades of experience covering legal affairs and judicial developments. He can be discovered on X at @wajihsheikh.

Taken together, the developments around LHC hears Junaid Hafeez' s appeal in blasphemy case, seeks prosecution' s arguments on point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.