The Lahore High Court on Tuesday asked the prosecution to address the admissibility of electronic evidence in the appeal of former Bahauddin Zakariya University lecturer Junaid Hafeez against his conviction and death sentence in a blasphemy case.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Sadiq Mahmud Khurram and Justice Muhammad Jawad Zafar heard the appeal. Hafeez was represented by lawyer Asad Jamal, while Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry appeared for the prosecution.
A key issue before the bench was the electronic material relied upon in the case, including a Facebook page allegedly associated with Hafeez. The judges sought the prosecution’s arguments on whether such evidence was legally admissible.
The court initially indicated that proceedings would resume on October 7. However, after Hafeez’s counsel requested additional time to prepare his arguments, the bench said a new hearing date would be announced later.
The judges also addressed a procedural matter concerning the transfer of the appeal from the LHC’s Multan bench to its principal seat in Lahore. The bench noted that formal notices had not previously been issued to the parties following the transfer. The required notices were issued during Tuesday’s proceedings and received in court by both lawyers.
Hafeez, who worked as a visiting lecturer in BZU’s English literature department, was arrested on March 13, 2013, after students accused him of posting blasphemous material on social media and using blasphemous language during lectures.
His trial began in 2014 and was subsequently moved to Multan Central Jail because of security concerns.
A Multan district and sessions court convicted Hafeez on blasphemy charges and sentenced him to death on December 21, 2019.
Hafeez challenged the conviction in 2020. At his lawyer’s request, the appeal was transferred from the LHC’s Multan bench to Lahore in December 2021. Proceedings on the appeal have since been postponed on several occasions.
The conviction remains under appeal, with the high court yet to decide Hafeez’s challenge to the trial court judgment.