Gojra: Additional District and Sessions Judge Gojra Mohammad Amir Hanif have ordered the death penalty as a convicted on blasphemy to the Christian couple. Gojra resident Shaukat Masih and his wife Shagufta Bibi was accused of sending SMS on blasphemous to others.
The Gojra City Police in Punjab charged them with blasphemy under Sections 295-B (insulting the Koran, punishable by life imprisonment), 295-C (insulting Muhammad, punishable by death) and 25-D of The Telegraph Act of 1985. Section 25-D recommends a maximum of three years for intentionally “causing annoyance.”
This case also protested throughout the area, and police arrested the couple and made ??their case to court. On the last day, Additional Sessions Judge hearing the case after about a year later and ordered that both are culprits of blasphemy, due to this crime they were sentenced to death. The husband and wife argued during trial that the allegations are wrong as it is not like that and it is a baseless propaganda against us.
[junkie-alert style=”white”]The couple’s lawyer, Nadeem Hassan, said the judge had submitted to Islamists’ pressure and handed down the death sentence even though there was no existing evidence against the couple. “The police failed to recover the SIM allegedly registered in Shagufta’s name from the couple’s possession,” Hassan said. “ [/junkie-alert]
“During preliminary investigations, Shagufta had told the police that her cell phone had been lost for a month, and that she did not know who might have sent the alleged messages,” the couple’s lawyers said. Hassan said he would challenge the decision in High Court once he receives a copy of the detailed verdict.