LAHORE: Additional District and Sessions Judge Shazib Saeed on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to a man on charges of blasphemy.

The judge awarded life imprisonment to Zulfiqar Ali over his statement in which he confessed to committing blasphemy by setting the Holy Quran ablaze.

Racecourse police had registered a case under Section 295/B of PPC against Zulfiqar on the complaint of Parks and Horticulture Authority employee Qaisar Mehmood.

The complainant said on May 11, 2006, he along with prosecution witnesses Jabbar and Shehzad was performing duty on the canal bank near Dharampura Bridge when they spotted Zulfiqar sitting on a bench and found underneath a copy of the Holy Quran on fire. He said the convict tried to flee but they overpowered him and handed him over to police.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2015

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