Mashal murder case: Govt given two days to file response

Victim’s father had requested court to transfer trial of the prime suspect, two others to Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The provincial government has been asked by a court to again submit its response on a request filed by the father of a journalism student who was lynched by a mob on blasphemy allegations whether the trial of the main accused and two others is transferred from an anti-terror court (ATC) in Mardan to the provincial capital of Peshawar.

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) had first issued a notice to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on May 19 after a petition had been filed by Muhammad Iqbal, the father of the slain journalism student Mashal Khan, urging the court to transfer of trial of the prime accused Arif Khan and two others including Sabir Mayar and Izharullah alias Johny —absconders who were recently arrested by the Mardan Police — from Mardan to Peshawar.



Submitting through Barrister Amirullah Khan Chamkani, Iqbal in his petition had argued that while technically their trial should be held in the Mardan district, their family was feeling insecure there given how the suspects were hailed by some locals as heroes.

Expressing reservations over continuing the trial of the accused in Abbottabad, they had urged the court to transfer the case to the provincial capital.

Mashal’s father added that appeals against the ATC court judgment in the case have already been filed before the PHC in the provincial capital, therefore, the trial of the prime accused and others should also be held there.

However, the government had failed to submit a reply to the court within the stipulated time.

On Friday, when a single-judge bench of PHC headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi began hearing the petition, the court was told that the government has yet to submit its response.

At this, Justice Afridi directed the government to submit its response within two days, by May 28, and adjourned the hearing.



On April 13, 2017, the country witnessed the brutal lynching of Abdul Wali Khan University journalism student Mashal Khan in broad daylight after being accused of blasphemy.

A friend of the deceased student said that a mob attacked him before shooting him in the head and chest. He added that the mob then continued to beat his body with sticks. The incident was recorded by bystanders on their cell phones and immediately shared. The videos went viral.

Months after the incident, a joint investigation found that Mashal had been the victim of a larger conspiracy premeditated by student leaders and university employees. The blasphemy allegations against him were baseless.

In February 2018, nearly 10 months after the incident, an anti-terrorism court in Abbottabad awarded the death sentence to one and 25-year-prison to five others. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2018.