Junaid Hafeez

Gender: Male

Current Location: Central Jail, Multan, Punjab

Perpetrator: Pakistan

Religion or Belief: Muslim – Unspecified/Other

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: Death + Life Imprisonment + 10 Years' Imprisonment

Date of Detainment: May/13/2013

Date of Sentencing: December/21/2019

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment

Reason for Persecution: Blasphemy (General) Blasphemy (Religious Figures) Blasphemy (Religious Texts)

Nature of Charges: Hate Speech

Junaid Hafeez

Extra Bio Info:

Junaid Hafeez is imprisoned and sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy. 

In March 2013, authorities arrested Hafeez, a lecturer at Bahauddin Zakariya University, after his students accused him of blaspheming Islam on social media. In 2014, authorities placed him in solitary confinement after other prisoners repeatedly attacked him. That same year, two gunmen shot to death Hafeez's lawyer, Rashin Rehman, in his office.

In December 2019, a district and sessions court in Multan sentenced Hafeez to death for "insulting the Prophet Muhammad" (Sec. 295-C PPC). He was also sentenced to life in prison for "desecrating the Qur'an" (Sec. 295-B PPC) and 10 years' imprisonment for "intending to outrage religious feelings" (Sec. 295-A PPC). United Nations experts swiftly condemned Hafeez's sentence.

Prior to his arrest, Hafeez received a master's degree in the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship. He specialized in American literature, photography, and theatre.

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