Mashal lynching case: ATC hands out death sentence to accused, five others get life

A court sentenced one person to death and five others to life imprisonment on Wednesday for lynching a student accused of blasphemy, a crime which sent shockwaves through the country. Mashal Khan, 23, was stripped, beaten and shot by a gang made up mostly of students last April before being thrown from the second floor of his dormitory at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan.
"One of the accused has been awarded a death sentence, (five) were given life imprisonment while 26 have been acquitted," Saad Abbasi, a defence lawyer, told AFP at the prison where the verdict was announced. An additional 25 were given three-year sentences, he added, saying he planned to file an appeal against the decision.
The court sentenced Imran Sultan Mohammad to death over his role in shooting Khan during the lynching, a crime he confessed to earlier. Ahead of the verdict, heavy security was enforced at the jail in the city of Haripur where the accused were detained, with the area cordoned off by police and elite commandos. The proceedings were held in an anti-terrorism court inside the jail for security reasons. Around 100 relatives of the accused students waited outside the prison walls as news of the verdict trickled out.
"A day will come that the judge will answer the God. The verdict he has announced is unjust," said Waheedullah, whose son was given a three-year sentence.