Peshawar man claiming apostasy awarded death penalty

Sessions court judge also imposes Rs0.1 million fine on Bashir Mastan for making the false claim

PESHAWAR:

An additional district and sessions court of Peshawar has awarded death sentence and Rs0.1 million fine to a man who claimed apostasy

Muhammad Tahir Aurangzeb awarded the punishment to Bashir Mastan under Section 295-C/298.

According to the prosecution, Mastan had made the claim in the jurisdiction of Inqilab police station of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's (K-P) provincial metropolis.

The fake apostle was arrested on the said charges on September 7, 2020 and was subsequently tried for the same.

In late September, a district and sessions court in Lahore awarded death sentence to a female principal of a school for claiming prophethood.

Also read: Lahore woman sentenced to death for claiming to be prophet

The prosecution successfully proved the case against the convict, Salma Tanveer while the defendants failed to establish that the accused was not mentally stable when she had committed the offence.

Salma, on September 3, 2013 had published and distributed a pamphlet in the area near her residence in Lahore in which she denied the finality of the prophethood.

It also contained derogatory words towards the sacred name of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), claiming her own prophethood and calling herself Rehmatul Alamin (mercy for all the worlds).

The area residents had lodged an FIR against the accused after which local police arrested the school principal. Nishtar Colony police had also found her guilty during the investigation.