Man jailed for 13 years for Facebook 'hate speech'

Saqlain Haidar, 32, also fined Rs250,000 for 'posting hateful material against companions of Prophet Muhammad...

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court has jailed a Shia Muslim for 13 years after he posted what it deemed sectarian hate speech on Facebook, officials said Monday, with rights activists condemning the ruling as "extremely concerning".

Saqlain Haidar, 32, who ran a small hotel in Chiniot was also fined Rs250,000 for "posting hateful material against companions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)”, an official of the Counter Terrorism Department told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Abdul Majeed, a senior local counter-terrorism official, confirmed the incident.

"The convict was arrested on October 27 after locals complained about him and he was charged for spreading sectarian hatred under various clauses of the anti-terrorism act," he told AFP.

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Majeed said the accused was released on bail a day later, then arrested and imprisoned on November 21 after the court convicted him.

In May an imam in the Kasur district of Punjab was jailed for five years for inciting hate against a rival minority Shia sect. In October a former leader of a banned sectarian party was imprisoned for six months for hate speech.

Bytes for All, a human rights group, said it had not been able to verify the details of Haidar's case, but added: "We are extremely concerned that an anti-terrorism court has been used to hear a case apparently related to online speech rather than to any violent activities."

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A spokesperson pointed banned militant groups including the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have a significant social media presence in Pakistan and "appear to be operating freely under the eyes of authorities".

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has blocked hundreds of extremist and sectarian websites and social media accounts in the past but they often pop up anew under different names.

Bytes for All said Haidar's case was the first it knew of in which someone was convicted for posting sectarian material on Facebook, but that blasphemy charges were often brought against social media users.