According to Pakistani media, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced six people to death and seven others to life in jail for their roles in the lynching of a Sri Lankan national for alleged blasphemy.
In the murder case, 89 men have been charged, nine of whom are juveniles.
Seven of them have been sentenced to life in prison, while the remaining 76 have been sentenced to two years in prison.
Judge Natasha Nasim, who conducted the trial in secret within the high-security Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore on a daily basis, declared the verdict in front of the suspects.
The judge did not announce the verdicts of nine minor defendants whose trials are still ongoing.
Last year, a religiously fanatic mob lynched and burned Priyantha Kumara, a 49-year-old Sri Lankan citizen and manufacturing manager in Pakistan’s Punjab city of Sialkot.
At the time, Imran Khan, Pakistan’s prime minister, condemned the vigilante violence and promised to prosecute the offenders.
The trial of the case in Kot Lakhpat Jail was completed by an anti-terrorism court.
In the case that was heard on a daily basis, both the prosecution and the defence had finished their arguments.
The investigative officers’ and eyewitnesses’ statements had also been recorded.
WION
