28 December 2021 :

A Peshawar court on 23 December 2021 convicted a 42-year-old man of committing blasphemy through uploading a video on the internet and sentenced him to death along with a fine of Rs100,000.
Additional district and sessions judge Mohammad Tahir Aurangzeb pronounced that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused, Bashir Mastan, a resident of Charsadda, and the evidence on record connected him with commission of the offence.
The court convicted him under section 295-C of Pakistan Penal Code and while sentencing him to death ordered that the sentence should not be executed unless confirmed by the Peshawar High Court.
The judge ordered that necessary reference should be prepared and sent to the high court for confirmation of the death sentence. The judge also convicted the accused under section 298 PPC and sentenced him to two years rigorous imprisonment.
The FIR of the occurrence was registered at Inqilab police station in Peshawar by its SHO on 7 September 2020, under sections 295-C (derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet) and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings) of the PPC and section 15 of the Arms Act.
In the FIR, the SHO claimed that a video had gone viral wherein the suspect could be seen making false claim of his being a prophet. He stated that the said video had resulted into a public outcry.
The police claimed that the suspect was traced through his mobile phone connection and then taken into custody from residence of one of his relatives in Pandhu area. It was stated that a pistol was also recovered from the suspect.

15 March 2021 :

A Pakistani court has given the death sentence to a Christian previously jailed for life after being convicted of sending text messages defaming Prophet Muhammad, UCA News reported on 12 March 2021.
Lahore High Court on 10 March sent the appeal of hearing of Sajjad Masih Gill, a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to the division bench after admitting the criminal revision.
In July 2013, a trial court sentenced Gill, from Gojra town in Punjab province, to life imprisonment for sending a controversial text message to a Muslim man in December 2011. The verdict included a fine of 314,500 rupees (US$2,000).
He had been arrested by police who traced his mobile phone number through a cellphone tower.
In 2015, his brother and nephew reported being attacked and threatened by unknown persons while returning home after visiting Gill in Central Jail Sahiwal, the largest prison in Asia spanning 283,280 square meters.
In 2016, two lawyers of the Legal Evangelical Association and Development reported similar threats by armed men on the road between Kasur and Lahore. Both had defended Gill and appealed to the Lahore High Court.
The news of Gill’s death sentence was praised by a Muslim lawyer in a Facebook post.
Zeeshan Ahmed Awan, who was among the prosecuting lawyers in court, said the court had accepted the prosecution's argument that capital punishment was the only possible sentence for blasphemy and that life imprisonment was “repugnant” to the injunctions of Islam.

10 January 2021 :

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on 8 January 2021 sentenced three men to death for sharing blasphemous content on social media. A fourth accused in the same case was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
The ATC also issued perpetual arrest warrants for four accused, absconding in the case.
According to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which had investigated the case, Rana Nouman Rafaqat and Abdul Waheed operated fake profiles and disseminated blasphemous material on social media, while Nasir Ahmad had uploaded blasphemous videos to a Youtube channel. The verdict was announced by Islamabad ATC Judge Raja Jawad Abbas, who found all three guilty of having committed blasphemy.
A fourth individual, Professor Anwaar Ahmed, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs100,000. He had been arrested for disseminating controversial blasphemous views during a lecture at the Islamabad Model College where he was an Urdu teacher.
All four convicts were initially arrested in 2017 in connection with the blasphemy case. 
The four individuals were indicted by the ATC on 12 September 2017, when they had pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. The ATC had also previously dismissed the bail plea of Professor Anwaar Ahmed in the same case.
This is Pakistan's first case in which persons have been convicted for sharing blasphemous content on social media.

23 November 2021 :

A Christian in Pakistan incarcerated for nearly 10 years on a blasphemy conviction was released from prison on 9 November 2021 after a high court acquitted him, but quietly to avoid Islamist outrage, his attorney said.
The life prison sentence of Sajjad Masih Gill, 37, had been converted to the death penalty on 10 March under Islamist pressure.
His attorney, Javed Sahotra, said that a two-judge division bench of the Lahore High Court on 26 October acquitted Gill on grounds of insufficient evidence and ordered his release.
“My client is facing serious security risks,” Sahotra told Morning Star News. “We intentionally kept the news secret to avoid putting his and our lives at risk. Gill is very happy after being released from prison, but he cannot return to his normal life.”
Gill, member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Pakpattan, spent nine years, 10 months and 15 days in prison on the false charge, Sahotra said.
Sahotra said he appreciated the high court judges for administering justice, albeit after a prolonged delay.
A trial court sentenced Gill to life in prison in 2011 under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy statutes against defiling Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. A Muslim had accused Gill of sending a blasphemous message.
In last month’s verdict overturning the conviction, Lahore High Court Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan and Justice Muhammad Tariq Nadeem said police had failed to recover from Gill any mobile phone and SIM card allegedly used in the offense, Sahotra said.

06 June 2021 :

A Pakistani court on 3 June 2021 acquitted a Christian couple who have spent seven years on death row for alleged blasphemy, their lawyer says, in a case that rights groups have long singled out for fair trial issues.
The Lahore High Court acquitted Shafqat Emmanuel and his wife Shagufta Masih after a hearing in the eastern city of Lahore, the couple’s lawyer Saif ul Malook told Al Jazeera.
“They have been acquitted on all charges […] and the capital sentence is set aside,” said Malook.
Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, the lawyer for the complainant in the case, confirmed the verdict to Al Jazeera.
“The appeal was allowed after hearing the arguments [from both sides],” said Chaudhry. “The grounds and reasons for the decision have not yet been given.”
Emmanuel and Masih were convicted and sentenced to death in April 2014 for having allegedly sent “blasphemous” text messages that were insulting to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and its holy book, the Quran, to a local Muslim leader in their native Gojra, a town located 165km (102 miles) west of provincial capital Lahore.
The couple denied the charges, with their lawyer arguing they were illiterate and unable to compose the text messages they were accused of sending, court documents say.
On 4 June, Malook said the couple were expected to be released from prison within a week, but that they would need security.
“If they are released and are in public, they will be killed,” he said.
Rights groups have echoed that concern, with UK-based Amnesty International demanding that “adequate security” be provided to the couple, their family and Malook.
“‘Blasphemy’ cases are often premised on flimsy evidence in environments that make fair trials impossible, underscoring the significance of this verdict,” said Amnesty’s South Asia Deputy Director Dinushika Dissanayake.
“This case is sadly emblematic of the harassment, intimidation and attacks that those accused of ‘blasphemy’ routinely face and highlights the urgent need to repeal the law.”
Chaudhry, the lawyer for the complainant in Emmanuel and Masih’s case, however, denied the existence of any threat to either the couple or Malook.
“This is just an atmosphere that they create so that they can get asylum and leave the country,” he said.
Chaudhry said his team was preparing an appeal, to be filed at the Supreme Court, against the verdict.

03 February 2021 :

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on 2 February 2021 ordered the Pakistani-British man acquitted of the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl off death row and moved to a so-called government “safe house.”
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh, who has been on death row for 18 years, will be under guard and will not be allowed to leave the safe house, but he will be able to have his wife and children visit him.
“It is not complete freedom. It is a step toward freedom,” said Sheikh’s father, Ahmad Saeed Sheikh, who attended the hearing.
The Pakistan government has been scrambling to keep Sheikh in jail since a Supreme Court order on 28 January upheld his acquittal in the death of Pearl, triggering outrage by Pearl’s family and the US administration.
In a final effort to overturn the acquittal, Pakistan’s government as well as the Pearl family filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, asking it to review the decision to exonerate Sheikh of Pearl’s murder. The family’s lawyer, Faisal Siddiqi, however, said such a review had a slim chance of success because the same Supreme Court judges who ordered Sheikh’s acquittal sit on the review panel.
Sheikh had long denied any involvement in Pearl’s death, but the Supreme Court on 27 January heard that he acknowledged writing a letter in 2019 admitting a minor role.
Last week’s ruling that exonerated Sheikh also exonerated another three men accused in Pearl’s murder who had been serving life sentences. It wasn’t clear whether they would be freed or also moved to a safe house.
Siddiqi, the Pearl family lawyer, said the original murder trial back in 2002 charged all four as one, which complicated the case and allowed the court to free all if there was doubt about the guilt of even one of the suspects.

31 January 2021 :

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on 27 January 2021 acquitted two death row convicts who had been serving prison time for the past 9 years. The court acquitted the convicts over lack of solid evidence against them.
The division bench comprising Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry acquitted the convicts, Imran Javed and Niamat Ali, while allowing their appeals against death penalty by the trial court.
A counsel for convicts argued before the court that Balochini police of Faisalabad registered a case against the convicts and others on 4 October 2011 over murder of Muhammad Gulzar, Muhammad Irshad, Babar Ali, Nazir Hussain and another.
It was alleged that the convicts and others killed the victims who were going to district courts on a 'tanga'. 

25 November 2021 :

A local court in the Hafizabad District of Punjab on 24 November 2021 sentenced a man to capital punishment for raping his own daughter.
The father of the accused had registered a case against his son in April 2021 for raping the daughter. 
At the outset of the hearing, the accused, identified as Nasir Ali, denied the charges levelled against him, saying that his father has sued him for taking over his cattle.
The prosecutor maintained that the victim informed her grandfather about the abuse after being raped multiple times.
"The medical reports have also proved rape," the prosecutor informed the court.
At this, the district and sessions court judge issued a written verdict, stating that Ali doesn't deserve any leniency.
The court awarded Ali death sentence with a penalty of Rs500,000.

29 September 2021 :

A gender-based violence court in Kasur on 5 August 2021 awarded death sentence to three people in the gang rape of a mentally-challenged minor girl.
The court also slapped a fine to compensate the family of the survivor.
The accused abducted 13-year-old girl from Eisanagar on 21 August 2019, detained her at a deserted house and raped her. Locals and family found her at the house of Javed, one of the four accused, on hearing hue and cry of the girl.
Police registered a case against three nominated and one unidentified accused under sections 364-A and 376 of PPC.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Sajawal Khan awarded death penalty to Javed, Shaimoon Masih and Haroon Masih and acquitted Younis by giving him the benefit of the doubt.

22 March 2021 :

A Pakistani court on 20 March 2021 sentenced two men to death over the gang rape of a French-Pakistani mother, lawyers said, an attack that prompted nationwide protests and tough new anti-rape legislation.
The woman was attacked in September last year in front of her small children on the side of a motorway after her car ran out of fuel near the southern city of Lahore.
An outpouring of anger was further fuelled by a police chief who chided the victim for driving at night without a male companion.
"They've both been handed the death penalty," Chaudhry Qasim Arain, a lawyer for both men, told AFP after the verdict and sentencing hearing.
The two men would appeal the decision, announced at an anti-terrorism court in Lahore.
At the time of the gang rape, Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh repeatedly berated the victim for driving at night without a man, adding that no one in Pakistani society would "allow their sisters and daughters to travel alone so late".
Sheikh went on to say the woman -- a resident of France -- probably "mistook that Pakistani society is just as safe" as her home country.
Thousands took part in protests, demanding justice and an increase in spending on initiatives that improve women's safety, as well as an end to victim blaming.

16 March 2021 :

A Pakistani court on 13 March 2021 sentenced a cleric to death for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl in Peshawar city two years ago, the Dawn reported.
Judge Wadeeya Mustaq Malik ruled that Qari Saeed, based in Peshawar, was found guilty of rape and was convicted under Section 376(3) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The court also ruled that as the girl had suffered mental and physical anguish and long life trauma, so the convict should compulsorily pay a fine of Rs 300,000 to her in the form of saving certificates to be withdrawn by her on attaining the age of 18 years.
“As far as the quantum of sentence is concerned, no mitigating circumstances could be found and rather, aggravating circumstances exist. The rape was committed of a girl aged eight years,” Malik ruled, adding that the convict was a mosque’s pesh imam (prayer leader), who committed the crime in one of its rooms.
The court observed that the convict held a master’s degree in Islamiyat and led Friday prayers in his mosque.
The ruling added that the offence was gruesome as the convict also committed sexual violence by biting and bruising the child on her neck.
The judge ruled: “The statement of child witness not only found confidence-inspiring, truthful but also has not been contradicted on the material aspect.
An FIR of the sexual assault was registered by the police on 14 March 2019, on the complaint of the father of the girl, who accompanied him.
The complainant had said he and other family members were present in their house when his daughter returned from outside crying and said Qari Saeed called her to the mosque on the pretext of giving away an amulet but sexually assaulted her in a room there.
The convict didn’t accept the charge and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case at the behest of the Ahmadi community as he was very vocal against it.
He, however, failed to prove that claim.

08 March 2021 :

Rawalpindi Additional District and Sessions Judge Jehangir Gondal awarded a death sentence and imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on a man convicted of raping a five-year-old girl.
If the convict, Munir Ahmed, fails to pay the fine, the amount would be obtained by auctioning his property, else six months would be added to his sentence.
The court termed the rape of the minor girl a heinous crime, saying that the suspect did not deserve any leniency. The court added that any relaxation in the sentence would be equivalent to promoting the offence.
Earlier on 26 January last year, the five-year-old girl had gone to a shop in Mumtaz Colony in the Dhoke Hassu area of the city but had not returned home.
When her mother had gone to look out for the girl, she had heard screams from the rented-room of Munir Ahmed in the same locality.
As the mother started shouting for help, the neighbours had gathered and rescued the minor victim after breaking the door after which she was taken to a hospital.
The suspect was locked inside the same room till the police reached the site and arrested him. A medical report and a DNA test had confirmed the molestation of the minor girl.
Hailing the court verdict, human rights activists Masood Shah and Samina Bukhari said that it was necessary to give strict punishments to such offenders to curtail crime against minors.
They stated that the sessions court was fulfilling its responsibilities in this regard, requesting the high courts and the Supreme Court to ensure speedy trials in rape cases.
The chairperson of a women rights organisation, Sameera Gul said she had staged a protest when the incident had taken place. Hailing the decision of the sessions court judge, she added that the father of the minor victim was a labourer and worked eight to 12 hours daily to feed his family.
The victim’s mother, Safina, maintained that her daughter had gone to the shop to buy something for her. She added that the minor girl fell prey to the convict but they have been served justice.

28 September 2021 :

A Lahore district court on 27 September 2021 awarded death sentence to a woman for claiming to be a prophet.
The prosecution proved the case against convict Salma Tanveer while the other side failed to establish that the accused was of unsound mind when she had committed the offence.
Accused Salma, on 3 September 2013 had published and distributed writing in her area denying Khatame Nabuwat (the “Seal of the Prophets”) and claiming herself to be a prophet.
An FIR was lodged against the accused after the area residents took notice of the incident. Later, Salma was arrested by police.
Nishtar Colony police submitted a challan of the case declaring the accused guilty during the course of investigation. During the one-and-a-half year of trial, the first application of the accused was submitted mentioning that Salma was of unsound mind. Later, a medical board was constituted which declared her unfit for the trial.The trial remained pending for around two years. Finally, the jail authorities after medically examining the accused wrote to the court that the accused was fit to face the trial.
Once again the trial was conducted wherein the accused side maintained that the accused was of unsound mind when the offence was committed.
On the other hand, complainant’s counsel Supreme Court Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry argued how was it possible that an application, describing unsoundness of the accused, was submitted after one-and-half-year of initiation of the trial.
The lawyer questioned how an unsound woman was running a school and teaching the classes.
“How is it possible that an unsound woman had visited foreign countries several times?” he asked.
“How is it possible that an unsound woman engaged her counsels with her own approval and the applications in her case have been submitted even in the country’s top court,” the counsel asked.
The accused’s lawyer reiterated that she was of unsound mind at the time of incident. He said under section 84 of PPC, nothing was an offence which was done by a person of unsound mind.
The complainant’s counsel argued that prosecution had proved its case on the basis of oral and documentary evidence whereas the accused had failed to prove that at the time of writing and distributing blasphemic material, she was incapable of knowing the nature of her act by reason of unsoundness of mind.
The accused, getting recorded her statement under section 342 of CrPC claimed that she believed in Khatame-Nabuwat but before Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) in year 2013, she had lost her mental balance.
After hearing both the sides, the additional district and sessions judge awarded death penalty to Salma and imposed a fine of Rs.50,000.

19 May 2021 :

The Sindh High Court commuted on 18 May 2021 the death sentence awarded to a murder convict into life imprisonment.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho, announced the verdict on convict Babar's plea seeking acquittal.
The bench remarked that the convict could not be acquitted in light of the evidence against him.
According to the police, Babar stabbed a security guard, Muhammad Ramzan, to death and injured two others in 2012.
Finding Babar guilty, a trial court had sentenced him to death in 2019.

06 April 2021 :

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on 5 April 2021 commuted the death sentences that had been handed down against three men to life imprisonment, in two separate cases.
The first case concerns a man who was found guilty of murdering the student of a madrassa.
A two-judge bench of the high court heard an appeal filed by Fazl Mehmood who challenged a trial court’s verdict that found him guilty of murdering a man named Raziullah.
The court observed that the convict cannot be pardoned at any cost.
A trial court had handed death sentence to Fazl for murdering Raziullah during a brawl in 2015. The Bahadurabad police had registered a case against him.
Earlier, the Sindh High Court had commuted two murder convicts’ death sentences to life imprisonment. A two-judge bench of the SHC gave this verdict on appeals filed by convicts Nabeel and Bilal who sought to set aside their conviction by a special court in a 2014 murder case.
The bench rejected their appeals, commuting the death sentence handed to them to life imprisonment. A special court had awarded death sentence to both the convicts on the charge of murdering a person named Shakeel in Kalakot area of Lyari in 2014.

31 March 2021 :

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on 30 March 2021 commuted the death sentence of a convicted man into life term in a murder case of his wife.
The court bench heard a plea filed by convict, Jabbar Ali, who was sentenced to death in the murder case, seeking commutation of his death sentence into the life term.
The court approved the appeal and commuted the death sentence of Jabbar Ali into the life imprisonment.
According to police, Jabbar Ali was accused of killing his wife in Ibrahim Hyri area of Karachi.
The culprit stabbed his wife to death in 2018. A case was registered against the accused at Ibrahim Hyderi police station. Malir District and Sessions Judge (D&SJ) sentenced the accused to death in 2019. 

24 March 2021 :

The Supreme Court (SC) on 22 March 2021 converted the death sentence of a murder convict into life imprisonment, giving him the benefit of a 2001 notification, issued by the president that gave retrospective effect to Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, which prohibited death penalty for juveniles.
Muhammad Anwar, the convict, was charged with committing murder of one Israr Ahmed in March 1993 and was arrested thereafter in the same month. Since then he had been behind the bars. He was sentenced to death by a sessions court in 1998, and the decision was upheld in 2002 by the Lahore High Court and the same was maintained in the Supreme Court in 2007.
The convict filed applications to the sessions court twice for relief under the presidential notification, which were dismissed. The sessions court maintained that since conviction had been upheld by the Supreme Court; therefore, no interference by sessions court was possible.
Advocate Anwaar Hussain, on behalf of the appellant, argued that while the conviction was maintained by the Supreme Court, it was an admitted fact that the presidential notification was retrospective in nature. He said since the medical test conducted in 2002 by the government official itself showed that the convict was between the age of 16-21 at the time of commission of offence. Therefore, the counsel said, the convict was entitled to benefit of the notification without referring the matter back to sessions court for determination of issue of juvenility.
Headed by Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, a three-judge bench of the SC observed that the documents submitted by the government itself showed the age bracket of the convict, which must be liberally and leniently construed in favour of the convict.

17 March 2021 :

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on 17 March 2021 commuted the death sentence of accused Farhan Ahmed to life imprisonment in alleged murder case.
A high court bench heard a plea filed by convicted Farhan Ahmed against the death sentence awarded to him by a sessions court in the murder of his wife on the suspect. The court rejected his plea and commuted his death sentence into a life term.
There is solid evidence of wife's murder against the accused, the court said.
The accused involved in the murder does not deserve any concession, the court ruled.
The accused had stabbed his wife Shaista to death on doubt, the prosecutor said.
The case was registered against the accused in New Town police station in 2013, said Iqbal Awan, the state prosecutor.
He said accused had also confessed to the murder of his wife. The Sessions Court had sentenced the accused Farhan Ahmed to death on conviction.

10 February 2021 :

In a landmark ruling, Pakistan's top court on 10 February 2021 commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill prisoners who have spent decades on death row, the first such ruling in this conservative Muslim-majority nation.
The decision by the Supreme Court was quickly hailed by Justice Project Pakistan, a rights group that has fought an extensive, years-long legal battle for the two inmates.
One of the two prisoners whose sentence was commuted, Kanizan Bibi, has spent 30 years on death row. She was 16 when she was charged with murdering her employer's wife and five children. The police said she was having an affair with her employer, who was also arrested and later hanged. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2000.
The second prisoner on death row whose sentence was commuted, Imad Ali, 55, was convicted of murdering a religious scholar in 2001. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2008. In 2016, Pakistan's Supreme Court halted the execution of Ali, just days before he was to be hanged.
"Because of certain misconceptions, the implications of mental illness are overlooked and the vulnerability or disability that it causes is not given due attention," Judge Manzoor Ahmad Malik said in his opening remarks on 9 February before a five-member panel of the court.
Pakistan in 2008 ratified an international convention that prohibit the execution of mentally ill prisoners. Since then, only one mentally ill prisoner was executed, Muneer Hussain. He was hanged in April 2015 despite having had a history of mental illnesses, according to the rights group.
Last year, with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the steep rise in COVID-19 cases in Pakistan's crowded jails, the Supreme Court of Pakistan agreed to release some mentally ill and disabled prisoners to ease conditions, but only those whose sentences were less than three years.
Bibi and Ali's sentences were commuted to life in prison, which in legal terms in Pakistan usually means no longer than 14 years. The time they already spent behind bars will count as sentence served and the two will be released if a medical board approves it. Otherwise they would be under treatment in a hospital for the mentally ill.
In its ruling on 10 February, the Supreme Court also ordered prison officials to file a fresh mercy petition for a third prisoner, Ghulam Abbas, who has spent more than 15 years on death row, according to Zainab Manzoor, a lawyer for Justice Project Pakistan.
Pakistan's President Arif Alvi has the authority to pardon Abbas.

16 December 2021 :

A Taxila court on 13 December 2021 sentenced a man to death for murdering a former councillor during a reconciliation meeting in Mohallah Warrian in Taxila police area in August 2019.
His co-accused was awarded 17 years rigorous imprisonment for injuring four others including two women during the meeting.
The additional district and sessions judge Khalid Mehmood Cheema also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on the convict. The co-accused Nazir Khan would also pay Rs40,000 to the victims.
The third accused was declared proclaimed offender (PO) as he was still at large.
According to the FIR registered under section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), a former area councilor Malik Mohammad Pervaiz, called a reconciliation meeting to settle a marriage dispute where people from one party took out pistols and showered the participants with bullets.
Resultantly Malik Mohammad Pervaiz was killed on the spot while Asif Sadiq, Riast Khan, Alishba Faisal and Zahida Perveen were injured.
Later, police arrested the accused and during the proceedings, the prosecution contended that substantial evidence was available on record which established involvement of Azmat alias Hashim Khan in the murder of the deceased. Subsequently judge sentenced him to death besides imposing a fine.

08 November 2021 :

The Gilgit-Baltistan anti-terrorism court on 4 November 2021 awarded a death sentence to eight men after convicting them of killing nine people in two Naltar valley sectarian attacks.
Judge Rehmat Shah announced verdicts in two cases after the completion of the hearing.
Two people were killed in the May 2020 attack and seven, including a woman, in March 2021.
The police had arrested 10 men in the first case and nine in the second.
According to the judge, two accused were awarded death and 12 years imprisonment along with Rs5.5 million fine in the May 2020 attack case, while four were jailed for 12 years. However, three were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
In the second case, death sentence, Rs500,000 fine and 29 years imprisonment were handed down to six accused.
Strict security arrangements were made in and outside the court.

02 November 2021 :

A Peshawar court on 30 October 2021 convicted a man and his son for killing four sisters six years ago over a property dispute and sentenced them to death along with the payment of Rs2 million compensation each to the legal heirs of the women.
District and sessions judge Ashfaque Taj also convicted the two, Fazal Qadir and son Fazal Hussain, for injuring the son of one of the deceased, awarded them five years rigorous imprisonment along with Rs50,000 fine each.
The court ruled that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused and the evidence on record connected them with the commission of the offence.
The court also declared two of the absconding accused, Fazal Karim and Hazrat Bilal, as proclaimed offenders and issued perpetual arrest warrants for them.
The killings, which had taken place in Kachi Mohallah in June 2015, had resulted into a public outcry and inhabitants of the area had also staged protest demonstrations in that connection.
Initially, the two arrested accused were convicted by an anti-terrorism court on 2 October 2019 and were awarded death penalty on four counts with collective fine of Rs 1.6 million.
However, the Peshawar High Court had set aside their conviction on 19 May 2021 and remanded the case to the sessions court for trial afresh under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

28 October 2021 :

A district and sessions court in Rawalpindi on 26 October 2021 awarded death sentences to two persons for raping and murdering a minor girl.
Babar Masih and Muhammad Adnan were found guilty of killing a nine-year-old girl Zainab after they raped her in the Civil Lines area on 22 March.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka pronounced the verdict after recording evidence of the witnesses and final arguments from both sides.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 each on both the convicts.
The judge also awarded seven years imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 to a co-accused, Aniqa for abetting in the crime.
Both convicts have been shifted to the death cell after the court announced the verdict.
The court completed the hearing of the case in seven months while strict security measures had been put in place in the court areas with heavy deployment of police contingents.
The incident took place in the Jhanda Chechi area where the minor girl, Zainab, went missing after she left her home to buy something from a nearby shop. Her body was later found from under the bed of her neighbour.

25 October 2021 :

An anti-terrorism court in Karachi on 25 October 2021 awarded death sentences to two cops over their role in the murder of a youngster Intezar Ahmed, 19, in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) neighbourhood of the city by an ACLC team.
The ATC judge found police constables Bilal Rasheed and Mohammad Daniyal, who were then posted as the gunman and driver of ex-ACLC chief (now DIG) Muqaddas Haider, guilty of shooting 19-year-old Intezar to death.
The court also awarded life imprisonment to six other ACLC officials
The ATC also announced an Rs200,000 fine against five convicts and ordered to release a cop, Ghulam Abbas, over lack of evidence.
On 13 January 2018, Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) personnel shot dead Intezar in the Khayaban-e-Ittehad area of the city.
Two different versions of the account emerged after the incident when police earlier claimed that the youth was killed by unidentified armed assailants on a motorcycle.
However, later it was disclosed that the personnel of law enforcement agencies opened fire upon his vehicle after he did not stop his car on their signal.
The slain youth was the only son of his father and recently came back from Malaysia.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on request of Ishtiaq Ahmed, father of Intezar Ahmed who was killed in a fire incident on 13 January 2018, at Seaview, constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the murder case.

19 October 2021 :

In the case of gang rape and murder, three convicts were sentenced to death two times and fined Rs. 5 lakh, Pothwar reported on 16 October 2021.
The convicts include Nisar Khan, Umar Shehzad and Naeem Sajjad.
The accused strangled and killed a woman in the Taxila area in September 2020 after a gang rape. She was on her way to work from her home.
In September 2020, a case of indiscriminate killing of a woman was registered at Taxila police station. Special team including lady police officer was formed under the leadership of SSP Investigation.
Rawalpindi police using modern technology and human intelligence arrested the accused and challaned them with solid evidence.

27 September 2021 :

Hyderabad model criminal trial court-I judge Ahsan Durrani on 20 September 2021 awarded capital punishment to a suspect in murder case of an activist of Muttahida Qaumi Movement and also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on the convict.
The MQM worker, Wazir Ali Mashori, whose father Noor Mohammad Mashori was unit in-charge of the party in Hatri area, was gunned down on 21 July 2010, by the convict Abdul Haq alias Bijli Mashori and his accomplices Abdul Jabbar Mashori, Haroon Mashori, Shaukat Mashori and Mashooq Mashori when he was returning from Hyderabad with his brother Ghulam Shabbir and cousin Hakim.
Ghulam Shabbir had registered a case at Hatri police station after his brother succumbed to bullet wounds at a private hospital hours after the attack.
Shakeel Zai, the deceased’s counsel, said that Abdul Haq was arrested in 2019 while Haroon, who obtained bail from Sindh High Court, fled from the model court recently fearing his conviction in the case.
The counsel said that Ghulam Shabbir and Hakim Ali too were fired upon but luckily they escaped unhurt.
It was a political murder because Wazir Ali was activist of MQM and his father was unit in-charge of the party, he argued.
Haroon had been at large for eight years before he was arrested in 2017 only to flee again afterwards. Besides him, Abdul Jabbar, Shaukat and Mashooq had also “disappeared” since Wazir Ali’s murder, he said.
The accused was represented by Ghulamullah Chang advocate.

14 July 2021 :

A Karachi model court on 14 July 2021 awarded death sentence to a real estate agent for murdering a businessman over a personal dispute.
Sohail Abdul Salam Mughal was found guilty of shooting to death Munawwar Ali over suspicion of abducting his wife and three daughters in New Town.
The additional district and sessions’ judge, Haleem Ahmed, of the model criminal trial court (East) pronounced the judgement.
The judge also ordered the convict to pay Rs1 million in compensation to the legal heirs of the victim. On default, he would undergo imprisonment for six months.
The murder was committed on 13 January 2019.
However, the sentence is subject to confirmation or otherwise by the Sindh High Court.
In his statement the accused denied the allegations and claimed his innocence.
On the other hand, defence counsel Khawaja Naveed Ahmed argued that his client was framed in the present case and pleaded to acquit him of the false charges.
About the wife and daughters of the convict, the investigating officer of the case told Dawn that they had not been kidnapped and that the wife along with the daughters had separated from the husband of her own free will and they were living happily.

13 July 2021 :

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on 30 June 2021 sentenced to death a former security guard for killing his bank’s manager over blasphemy allegations in the country’s eastern Punjab province last year.
The court in Sargodha city, handed down the capital punishment to Ahmed Nawaz and also imposed a fine of Rs 600,000 (USD 3,795) on him after the prosecution presented witnesses.
Nawaz, who was posted as a security guard at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) branch in Khushab district, last year opened fire at his boss -- branch manager Malik Imran Hanif -- killing him on the spot.
Later, he claimed that the bank manager had committed blasphemy. Local clerics came out in his support and laid a siege of the police station in which he was detained.
The police registered a murder case against Nawaz and included terrorism clauses on the complaint of the victim’s family which denied that Hanif had committed any blasphemy.
It claimed that Nawaz had played the “blasphemy card” to get away from punishment.
The victim’s family said that Nawaz had a grudge against Hanif for not giving him an annual increment and that he had a quarrel with Hanif before he shot him dead.

12 July 2021 :

A Dunyapur court on 5 July 2021 sentenced to death the two brothers involved in a double murder case in Lodhran.
The accused shot dead their political opponents while they were celebrating in front of their house on the day of the general elections in 2018.
Dunyapur Additional District and Sessions Judge Asif Sial, while concluding the hearing of the murder case of Saddar police station, sentenced the brothers Irfan and Shaukat to death and each of their two accomplices to three years imprisonment.
According to the prosecution, the victims, 14-year-old Osama and his 17-year-old brother Afaq Shabbir Ahmed were attacked while celebrating their election victory in front of their house on the night of 25 July 2018.
Dunyapur sadder police presented the murder case challan in the court. The proceedings continued for about three years.

07 July 2021 :

Two sessions courts of Rawalpindi on 30 June 2021 sentenced five convicts to death and awarded longer jail sentences to two in separate murder cases.
The court announced the death penalty for the suspect involved in the murder of a girl who refused to accept his proposal.
A student named Javeria was killed by Nauman in June of 2020. The suspect had barged into the house of the victim and sprayed her with bullets as she had refused to marry him. She was fatally injured and eventually succumbed to her wounds in a hospital.
Moreover, the additional district and sessions judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka imposed a fine of Rs200,000 and awarded the death sentence on murder charges.
The court also awarded seven-year imprisonment to the convict for breaking into Javeria’s house along with a fine of Rs50,000. The suspect would be liable to spend two months additionally in jail if he fails to pay the sum.
In another case, the same court awarded a death sentence to Waleed Ishaq for killing a security guard on resisting a robbery in the precincts of Rawat police station. The court also awarded 10 years imprisonment and forced a penalty of Rs50,000 on charges of robbery.
Ishaq’s accomplice Naeem Riaz was awarded 10 years imprisonment and a fine worth Rs200,000 on murder charges.
Moreover, an additional district and sessions judge Farkhanda Arshad awarded death sentences to three suspects and life imprisonment to one who killed four people in the precincts of Kahuta police station.
Each suspect would have to pay a fine of Rs 200,000 or additionally spend six months in jail on failing to do so, the court ruled.

17 June 2021 :

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Pakistan on 14 June 2021 sentenced two clerics to death after finding them guilty of kidnapping a 15-year-old student for ransom and later murdering him.
According to the prosecution, Qari Abdul Majeed and Qari Ahsan Ali had kidnapped Abdul Moiz on 26 June 2016, just after his parents allowed him to sit in Aitkaaf at the Ghousia Qadriya Masjid in Khudadad Colony.
The boy was kept hostage for four days in a house in Usmania Colony and after the payment of Rs400,000 in ransom by his family, he was killed by the accused who dismembered his body into parts, the prosecution added.
The judge ordered that the convicts be hanged by neck till their death. The judge also ordered the convicts to pay a fine of Rs1 million to the family of the victim or else they would spend five years more in prison.
The court heard 16 witnesses against the accused. In the light of the evidence, the judge observed that the prosecution had successfully established its case against the accused beyond any shadow of doubt.
The judge awarded the accused two counts of capital punishment under the Anti-Terrorism Act and remarked that their offence reeked of inhumanity and they did not deserve any leniency.

01 June 2021 :

The Rawalpindi District Session Court on 31 May 2021 awarded a death sentence to two accused in a murder case. Ahmed Razzaq and Safeer Butt were found guilty of killing Saeed Ahmed during an attempted dacoity.
The Additional Session Judge Farkhanda Arshad after recording evidence of the witnesses and final arguments by the defence and prosecution pronounced the verdict. The Court also awarded 17 years imprisonment to both while the convicted will also have to pay a fine of Rs0.6 million each.
The case was registered with Saddar Beroni police.

01 May 2021 :

A man convicted of killing four people in Rawalpindi Airport area has been handed four counts of death penalty, two life terms, 25 years imprisonment and Rs3.4 million in fines and compensation to victim families, The Nation reported on 28 April 2021.
Additional and Sessions Judge (ASJ) Muhammad Afzal Majoka issued its ruling in the case of Ghulam Abbas, who was convicted of killing Hira, Sabahat, Faiza and Ali Haider Zohaib and injuring Areej over marriage dispute in limits of Police Station Airport in September 2020.
Airport police officials registered separate murder cases against the accused on complaints of Navid Iqbal and Adeeb Ali and held the killer with weapons he used in the heinous crime. 
Meanwhile, City Police Officer (CPO) Muhammad Ahsan Younas has lauded the verdict of court and also appreciated the efforts of investigation wing of Rawalpindi police and its head SSP Muhammad Faisal Kamran. “Handing down murder convict the death penalty is essential because this is the justice,” he said adding that police are committed to wipe out crime from the city. 

13 April 2021 :

A Mardan court on 1 April 2021 awarded a death sentence to a man and his son for stabbing to death his wife.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge Ejaz Ahmad awarded the death sentence to Zulfiqar, son of Abdul Ghaffar, and Abdul Ghafar, son of Sadatullah, residents of Toru in Mardan district, after the prosecution proved the charges against the accused.
Zulfiqar and Abdul Ghafar were convicted under Section 302(b) of the PPC and sentenced to death for killing Nighat.
The convicts would have to pay as well compensation of Rs10,00,000/- each to the legal heirs (minor son and daughter) of the deceased.
The complainant, Mst. Nighat, wife of Abdul Ghafar, in an injured condition had reported to the local police on 01.11.2018 at the DHQ Hospital in Mardan that she along with her kids was asleep in her house when her husband, Abdul Ghafar, along with Zulfiqar, son of Abdul Ghafar (her step-son), armed with knives started inflicting blows on her.
She had disclosed that the occurrence had also been witnessed by her children. The motive for the crime was stated to be a domestic dispute. The woman had charged Abdul Ghafar and Zulfiqar for the offence.

08 April 2021 :

Sargodha additional district and Session Judge, Khalid Wazir on 6 April 2021 awarded death sentence to a man and another to life imprisonment of 32-year in a murder case in Factory Area police limits. 
The official sources said that two years ago in 2019, accused Arif and Suleman had gunned down Hamza during a robbery.
Local police registered a case against both the accused and presented challans in the court for trial. After completing arguments, the learned judge had awarded death sentence to Arif along with fine Rs1.1m as compensation money while 32-year imprisonment to Suleman. 
The culprits were shifted to Sargodha Jail.

30 March 2021 :

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on 27 March 2021 handed down death sentence to a man for raping and murdering a minor girl in 2019 in Punjab province.
Judge Nasir Hussain gave the death sentence to Muhammad Imran for her murder and life imprisonment along with a fine of 500,000 Pakistani rupees (USD 3,251) for her kidnapping and rape.
The judge ordered that the amount of fine be paid as compensation to the legal heirs of the victim. In case of default of fine, he will have to undergo another six-month imprisonment.
According to the prosecution, Muhammad Imran raped the eight-year-old girl and murdered her in Bahawalpur, 400kms from Lahore, in November 2019.
Police filed a report on the complaint of the victim's father and subsequently arrested the suspect, who confessed to the crime.

23 March 2021 :

A man involved in robbery and murder was awarded death penalty on 10 March 2021 by a court in Rawalpindi.
According to details, additional and sessions judge Farkhanda Arshad has awarded death sentence and seven-year imprisonment to the murder convict. She also imposed Rs50,000 fine on the convict. 
The murder convict has been identified as Wasim Akhter.
Saddar Bairooni Police had arrested the accused on charges of killing Tahir Abbas during a robbery in 2019 and filed a case against him.

27 February 2021 :

The Sindh High Court on 26 February 2021 dismissed the appeal of a man against his death sentence. He was convicted of murdering his 16-year-old daughter.
The appeal was heard by a two-member bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto.
The court upheld the death sentence of Khalil Ahmed.
Ahmed killed his daughter after repeatedly attacking her with a knife, the prosecutor told the court.
The appellant is not entitled to any leniency in light of the evidence against him, the court said.

08 February 2021 :

Pakistan’s top court on 5 February 2021 dismissed an appeal filed by a man convicted to death for the rape and murder of an 8-year old girl in Punjab’s southern district Vehari.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) upheld the death sentence which was awarded to the petitioner Ali Haider alias Pappu by the trial court.
The verdict was authorised by Justice Syed Mansur Ali Shah while the other two judges were Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik.
According to the apex court’s ruling, “The prosecution has proved its case against the petitioner beyond reasonable doubt. Therefore, we are not persuaded to espouse a view different from that given by the trial court and confirmed by the High Court as to the convictions and sentences of the petitioner”.
In the court’s own words, in this June 2016’s “troubling and gut-wrenching” case of rape and murder 8-year old Rimsha Bibi left her house for summer tuition in the neighbourhood but went missing and initially, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against an unidentified person.
However, in the supplementary statement recorded next day, two witnesses Jabbar Hussain and Tufail Shah revealed that they had seen the accused coming out of a field from where the dead body of the girl was recovered.
According to them when he was coming out of the field, Haider was tightening the string of his trousers.
The petitioner was arrested, indicted and sentenced to death by the trial court. In due course the Lahore High Court also maintained the convictions and sentences of the petitioner.

28 January 2021 :

A local court in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on 25 January 2021 sentenced a couple to life and death for kidnapping, sexually assaulting, blackmailing and also recording inappropriate videos of dozens of girls.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Jahangir Gondal awarded death sentence to Qasim Jahangir over rape and recording inappropriate videos while also announcing three-year imprisonment and a total of Rs2.5 million fine.
Convict’s wife Kiran Jahangir has been sentenced to life along with a fine of one million rupees.
The couple confessed to the sexual assault of 45 girls, taking their photographs and making inappropriate videos of at least 10 victims.

23 January 2021 :

A sepoy of the Frontier Corps was sentenced to death on 20 January 2021 over killing of a Karachi University student in August last year.
Turbat’s District and Sessions Judge Rafiq Langove pronounced the judgement after completing hearing of the case in the presence of the accused.
Hayat Mirza Baloch was killed in the Absar area of Turbat city of Kech district on 13 August last year in front of his parents while working with them in a date orchard.
The deceased, who had gone to Turbat as his university was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, had received eight bullets, resulting in his instant death.
According to records of the case, at least three FC men were injured after an improvised explosive device went off while they were patrolling in their official vehicle in Turbat.
Security forces then launched a search operation in the area and during the operation FC Sepoy Shadiullah caught Hayat Baloch and killed him after tying his hands to his back.
The then Inspector General of Frontier Corps (South), Major General Sarfaraz Ali, took notice of the incident and ordered investigation into the matter. Later, the FC man was handed over to police for legal proceedings.
Police had registered a case against the accused on the complaint of Murad Mirza Baloch, the elder brother of the deceased. After arresting Sepoy Shadiullah, police filed a challan against him in the District and Sessions Court.
The parents of Hayat Baloch recognised the accused during the identification parade. The accused also confessed to his crime in his statement recorded under Section 64 by a magistrate.
Advocate Jareen Dashti represented the family of the deceased in the case.

18 January 2021 :

An antiterrorism court on 17 January 2021 awarded death sentence to a hitman, said to be associated with the banned outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, for killing three people during an attack on a shrine, the Dawn reported.
Mohammad Ishaq, alias Bobby, was found guilty of shooting to death Zahir Hussain Shah; caretaker of the shrine of Nazar Ali Shah, his friend Mohammad Younus and an employee of the shrine, Mohammad Nawaz, in Korangi on 23 August 2014.
The prosecution said Ishaq and his accomplice shot at victims and fled the scene. Ishaq was on the run until November 2016 when police detained him.
Apart from the death penalty, the ATC also slapped a fine of Rs50,000 and a 10-year imprisonment sentence. The judge also ordered the convict to pay a compensation of Rs200,000 to the legal heirs of each victim, otherwise suffer additional imprisonment of six months.
The LeJ member is a high-profile convict on death row for multiple crimes including the murder of renowned singer Qawwal Amjad Sabri. This is the third capital punishment among others awarded to him in a month.

14 January 2021 :

The Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC), Rawalpindi Judge Raja Pervez Akhtar on 13 January 2021 awarded two times the death sentence to an accused in the murder case of a policeman. The court also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on Zahid Mehmood for killing Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Shakil Ahmed.
Wah Cantonment Police Station had registered FIR against Zahid for opening fire on a police party that resulted in the death of Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Shakil Ahmed.
The judge pronounced the verdict after recording evidence of the witnesses and final arguments by both sides.

01 December 2021 :

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on 30 November 2021 approved the capital punishment for child abusers, which would be implemented after approval by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
Chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, the cabinet also approved 14 years sentence and Rs5 million fine for the accused involved in child pornography and 10 years sentence for those involved in harassment and blackmailing through videos and filming.
After the approval of the act, the criminals involved in child trafficking would be sentenced to up to 25 years in jail, besides a fine of Rs5 million.
Briefing the media persons about the decisions of the cabinet, provincial Minister for Higher Education Kamran Bangash and newly-appointed Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information and Public Relations Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said that the act was approved following recommendations by a special committee for Child Protection, which recommended amendments in the Child Protection 2010.
The amended act has suggestion for exemplary punishment for the child abusers, which include death penalty, life-term imprisonment and huge penalty and there would be no concession in the punishment granted under the act.
The police would be authorised to produce audio and video evidence and DNA tests during the investigation and presentation in the court of law as evidence. The convict’s names would be displayed on the Child Protection Commission website and entered in the special register, there would be a complete ban on providing employment in public - private sectors on these convicts while they would also be not allowed to use public transport.
The owner or head of any organisation providing jobs to the child abusers would be imprisoned for 5 years in addition to a fine of Rs10 million or both.

05 October 2021 :

The Saviour’s Church in Lahore played host to a street play highlighting the plight of families of death row prisoners, kick-starting the awareness campaign for the World Day Against the Death Penalty observed every Oct. 10.
The performance on Oct. 3 marked the launch of an interactive campaign by Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) titled "This Is (Not) A Game," which is in line with this year’s theme "Women and Death Penalty: Invisible Realities" dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, exonerated or pardoned.
“This campaign is just a glimpse of what women have to face when they encounter a criminal justice system underlined by patriarchal biases,” said Laiba Zainab, communications officer at JPP, a legal action organization based in Lahore that represents the most vulnerable Pakistani prisoners facing the harshest punishments at home and abroad.
The multifaceted campaign will engage different segments of society through various mediums including street performances, radio shows, social media filters and a digital game. The campaign will conclude on Oct. 15 after a performance in Karachi at the Central Jail for Women.
“The gender disparity in Pakistan’s criminal justice system makes it harder for female prisoners as well as women trying to save their loved ones from injustice to fight for the right to due process, effective legal representation and right to health facilities in prisons,” she added.
Families of death row defendants, particularly women, face tough and often traumatic experiences in a system that inherently discriminates against them.
Pakistan has almost 4,000 prisoners on death row and thousands of people under trial awaiting sentences for offenses that are punishable by death.
The campaign follows the story of a woman trying to save her husband from the death penalty while navigating Pakistan’s flawed criminal justice system and making impossible decisions. Should she compromise her children’s education to pay the legal fees? Should she relocate to protect her children?
Each component of the campaign allows the audience to enact the perspective of this central female character, making them come face to face with the harsh realities of the lives of the family members of indigent defendants arrested for capital offenses.
“It was a challenge to convert a video game into a play, but street theatre offers a unique energy to engage the audience to interact with a sensitive subject like this,” said Malik Aslam, director and writer of the play. “Today’s interaction with the audience, we believe, will leave many empowered with hope and filled with empathy towards such prisoners.” 

11 May 2021 :

Pakistan on 10 May 2021 said that 1,100 of its nationals imprisoned in Saudi Arabia will return to the country soon after agreements were reached with Riyadh on the release of inmates during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the Kingdom over the weekend.
Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed told reporters in Islamabad that Saudi Arabia was even ready for the return of Pakistanis imprisoned for serious crimes as many of the prisoners have already served a large part of their sentence.
The minister said that with an aid of Rs 1 billion, hundreds of more prisoners who have to pay small fines can be released from Saudi jails. “The cases of the ones convicted for serious crimes, will be dealt with separately,” he said, adding that the whole process of return of prisoners has been completed.
At least 30 Pakistanis imprisoned for murder and drug offences will not be released as they have been sentenced to death, the minister said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had signed an agreement on the transfer of convicted prisoners during PM Khan’s three-day visit to Saudi Arabia. The two countries had also inked a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of the Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council (SPSCC), that would address the treatment of criminals and crime.
Last year, the Saudi government had released 2,080 Pakistani prisoners as part of an agreement with the Imran Khan government. These prisoners were involved in crimes like forgery, theft, bribery and illegal bordering crossing.

04 May 2021 :

Pakistan on 30 April 2021 decried a move by the European Parliament, which a day earlier adopted a resolution demanding Islamabad allow freedom for religious minorities and asked the EU to reconsider the South Asian country’s preferential trade status.
The European Parliament appealed on Islamabad to free a Christian couple — Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel — who have been on death row since 2014. The two were convicted of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
It also urged Pakistani authorities to repeal the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, provide Kausar and Emmanuel with needed medical care and “immediately and unconditionally” overrule their death sentence.
It also expressed concern at increasing online and other attacks on journalists and
human rights activists and asked Pakistan to take steps to ensure their safety.
Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone accused of insulting Islam can be sentenced to death if convicted. Just the mere accusation of blasphemy can cause riots and incite mobs to violence and killings.
The foreign ministry in Islamabad released a statement expressing the government’s disappointment at the European resolution, saying it “reflects a lack of understanding in the context of blasphemy laws and associated religious sensitivities in Pakistan — and in the wider Muslim world”.

09 March 2021 :

A double bench of the Sindh High Court, Larkana, on 4 March 2021, accepting the appeal of convicted accused in journalist Wali Babar case, quashed the sentence passed by the ATC Court, Kandhkot.
Reports said that on 4 March, Justice Muhammed Kareem Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi of Sindh High Court Bench, Larkana, had quashed capital punishment of two accused, Faisal Mota and Kamran alias Zeeshan, and life imprisonment of Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Shahrukh alias Manni after scrutinising their appeal.
The accused were MQM activists.
In 2011, the special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Kandhkot, had handed down death sentences to two absconders and life imprisonment to four others found guilty of murdering TV reporter Wali Babar.
The court had convicted two absconding accused, Faisal Mota and Kamran, giving death sentences in absentia.
Four co-accused, Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi and Shahrukh alias Manni, were handed down life terms.

27 February 2021 :

A Pakistani high court on 24 February 2021 indefinitely delayed the appeal hearing of a Christian couple who have been on death row since 2014.
Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel were imprisoned in 2013 and later sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the prophet Muhammad.
They are accused of having sent texts with the offending content to a cleric but they deny the allegations and say the sim card in the phone from which the messages were sent was obtained by someone using Ms Kausar’s identity card.
Their lawyer, Saiful Malook, accused the judge in Islamabad of avoiding hearing the case out of fear.
He said: “Judges in Pakistan will rarely hear cases of blasphemy until there is political or international pressure.
“There is no substantive proof against my clients, and they should have been released long ago.”