LAHORE: A Christian man accused of blasphemy in Jaranwala will appeal against a death sentence handed down by an anti-terrorism court, his lawyer said on Saturday.
The 36-year old man was convicted of blasphemy over allegations he had desecrated the Quran, claims that fuelled attacks on a Christian neighbourhood in 2023 in which hundreds of houses and churches were torched and thousands of people forced to flee their homes.
“We will file an appeal in the High Court against it,” his lawyer Akmal Bhatti told Reuters, referring to the verdict delivered on Friday night.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. No one has been executed by the state for it, but numerous accused have been lynched by outraged mobs.
One such example took place in Karachi on Friday, April 18, when a mob of 100-200 people beat a 47-year-old Ahmadi owner of a car workshop to death with bricks and sticks.
Also read: Karachi mob kills member of Ahmadi minority