In a loud pronouncement against militant mindset, an anti-terrorist court in northwestern Pakistani district of Haripur Wednesday sentenced killers and instigators of lynching of a student Mashal Khan after he was wrongfully accused of blasphemy.
The court handed capital punishment to one individual and sentenced five others to 25 years imprisonment term each in the diabolical killing of the 23-year-old Mashal in mob violence.
“ I wish no one ever has to go through the ordeal my family has suffered,” Aimal Khan, brother of victim Mashal Khan said after the court verdict in the case which angered the nation.
“We will consult our lawyers and see if we are satisfied with the verdict. My only appeal to the KP police is to arrest the rest of the suspects and bring them to justice as well,” Aimal said.
Judge Fazal Khan Subhan read out the verdicts against each of the 57 arrested suspects presented before the court.
Photo shows Mashal’s father at his son’s grave Credit: Taimur Rahman/Facebook
Mashal’s father Iqbal Khan, whose picture while praying at the grave of his young son agonized the entire nation, is currently in London, while Mashal’s mother and sisters are in Swabi and will stay there due to security concerns.
Security officials have been deployed outside their residence.
Mashal Khan, a student of Mass Communications at Mardan’s Abdul Wali Khan University, was beaten and shot to death by a mob on April 13, 2017, after he was accused of blasphemy.
The lynching took place within the premises of the higher institution and captured by video cameras. The images went viral on the social media, sending shockwaves across the society.
Sixty one accused including a number of students and university employees and a tehsil councillor of PTI, were directly charged in the first investigation report of the lynching. Fifty seven of the accused were arrested within a few days of the massacre, while another one was arrested in January 2018.
