The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday acquitted two convicts in lynching case of Kot Radha Kishan Christian couple murdered by a mob over false allegations of blasphemy.
The Christian couple was lynched in 2014 by a mob and later burned in a kiln over blasphemy. A LHC bench acquitted two convicts in the case, while dismissed appeals of three other convicts and upheld their death sentences.
The LHC accepted Hanif and the cleric Ishtiaq’s appeals against their death sentence and ordered their acquittal.
In November 2016, an anti-terrorism court had sentenced to death five convicts – a cleric Hafiz Ishtiaq, Mehdi Khan, Riaz Kambo, Irfan Shakoor, and Muhammad Hanif – for the lynching of a Christian couple, Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi.
The ATC had handed two-year jail sentences to 8 others convicted of murdering the Christian couple.
The illiterate couple had been falsely accused of tossing out pages of the Holy Quran along with other household waste. Eyewitnesses revealed that the mob beat the two with sticks and stones before burning them in a brick kiln.
The couple was thrown into the kiln in front of police officials who stood watching. Post-mortem reports revealed that the two were alive when they were thrown into the kiln and the cause of their death was burning from dry heat.
After the attack, it emerged that the couple had been falsely accused. The pages that the family burnt were their personal documents.
A tractor trolley, a broken TV, papers including ‘amulets’, a broken lock, torn police uniforms and wooden sticks – used in torturing the couple – were case properties.
The Christian couple was lynched in 2014 by a mob and later burned in a kiln over blasphemy. A LHC bench acquitted two convicts in the case, while dismissed appeals of three other convicts and upheld their death sentences.
The LHC accepted Hanif and the cleric Ishtiaq’s appeals against their death sentence and ordered their acquittal.
In November 2016, an anti-terrorism court had sentenced to death five convicts – a cleric Hafiz Ishtiaq, Mehdi Khan, Riaz Kambo, Irfan Shakoor, and Muhammad Hanif – for the lynching of a Christian couple, Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi.
The ATC had handed two-year jail sentences to 8 others convicted of murdering the Christian couple.
The illiterate couple had been falsely accused of tossing out pages of the Holy Quran along with other household waste. Eyewitnesses revealed that the mob beat the two with sticks and stones before burning them in a brick kiln.
The couple was thrown into the kiln in front of police officials who stood watching. Post-mortem reports revealed that the two were alive when they were thrown into the kiln and the cause of their death was burning from dry heat.
After the attack, it emerged that the couple had been falsely accused. The pages that the family burnt were their personal documents.
A tractor trolley, a broken TV, papers including ‘amulets’, a broken lock, torn police uniforms and wooden sticks – used in torturing the couple – were case properties.