Death row first, evidence check later: Lahore judges query Facebook proof against Junaid Hafeez

• Junaid Hafeez, a former lecturer, has been under sentence of death since 2019 over Facebook material he allegedly posted
• In Pakistan, blasphemy accusations have triggered mob killings, and one of the lawyers defending Hafeez was shot dead

Pakistan's justice system reached a milestone on Tuesday. A court asked prosecutors whether the digital evidence behind a death sentence can actually be admitted. The case is the appeal of Junaid Hafeez, a former university lecturer condemned for blasphemy in 2019. His appeal was filed in 2020, and by the leisurely standards of this saga the wait hardly deserves the word delay.

Hanging a man over a Facebook page might seem to call for one basic check: is the page really his? Perhaps that should come before the sentencing, not years afterwards. But in a case like this one, any progress counts as a triumph of speed.

A statute that does not do mercy

Pakistan's blasphemy laws cover a broad range of acts deemed offensive to religion. Anyone found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) receives a death sentence, and judges have no discretion. The state has never carried out an execution for blasphemy, but it has seldom had to. Accusations alone have been enough to set off mob killings. Suspects, their lawyers and others involved in their cases have faced threats and violence. Human rights groups say this atmosphere makes it difficult for defendants to find a lawyer at all, and even harder to get a fair trial.

From lecturing in Multan to a cell of his own

Hafeez was a visiting lecturer at Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan when police arrested him in March 2013 over material said to have appeared on Facebook. His trial opened the following year, and the security risks were so grave that it was held inside a prison. In 2014 Rashid Rehman, one of his lawyers, was shot dead by gunmen. Rehman had received threats for agreeing to defend him.

After one postponement followed another, a Multan court sentenced Hafeez to death in December 2019. His appeal was lodged in 2020. In 2021, at the defence's request, it was transferred from the high court's Multan bench to its principal seat in Lahore. According to Human Rights Watch, Hafeez has been held in solitary confinement since June 2014.

An assignment for the prosecution

On Tuesday, two judges of the Lahore High Court sent formal notices to the parties. They said the prosecution would be expected to argue why electronic evidence should be admitted, including a Facebook page attributed to Hafeez. Defence lawyer Asad Jamal said the bench also told prosecutors to satisfy it that this digital evidence is authentic. The court did not rule on the evidence or on the conviction.

I think that significant progress was made today. The court picked up the case, it was called, and beyond that, the court raised the key points that the prosecution must address. The court instructed them to satisfy the bench regarding the grounds raised in Junaid Hafeez's appeal.— Asad Jamal, speaking to Arab News

Jamal went on: “The court explicitly stated that the prosecution must satisfy the court regarding the authenticity of the digital or social media evidence.”

The next hearing has already been pushed back, as this case would lead anyone to expect. The judges had considered resuming on October 7. They settled on October 10 after the complainant's lawyer asked for more time to prepare.

“I am hopeful that a decision on this appeal will be reached very soon,” Jamal said.