PAK LYNCHING CASE: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR MURDERER

: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Wednesday sentenced one person to death and gave life terms to five others for the brutal lynching of student Mashal Khan after he was falsely accused of blasphemy last year.

The court in the garrison town of Abbotabad also gave four-year prison terms to 25 people and exonerated 26 of the 58 suspects for lack of evidence. The ruling was announced within Haripur Central Jail, where the trial was conducted for security reasons, as relatives of some of the convicts protested outside.

Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student of journalism at Abdul Wali Khan University in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, was beaten and then shot dead by a mob after he was accused of blasphemy on April 13.

Videos of the lynching were shared on social media, sending shockwaves across Pakistan and triggering a debate on the misuse of blasphemy laws.

A subsequent police investigation revealed that the accusation of blasphemy was false and that Khan was targeted for speaking out against corruption at the university.

The police said the murder was premeditated as members of the Pakhtoon Students Federation, the student wing of the Awami National Party, felt threatened by Khan raising his voice against irregularities in his university.

ISLAMABAD