LAHORE: A man was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Thursday for allegedly posting religiously offensive material on his Facebook page, lawyers in the case said.

Rizwan Haider, 25, was convicted in an anti-terrorism court of three charges, including promoting sectarian hatred, after he published a post referring to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

The case was registered against Haider in January for posting “objectionable material”.

Haider was also fined Rs250,000. He denied the charges and has the right to appeal.

His lawyer dismissed the accusations.

“He only liked it and did not post it on the page,” Shameem Zaidi said.

An anti-terrorism court jailed another man for 13 years in November after he also posted what it deemed sectarian hate speech on Facebook. Rights activists condemned the ruling as “extremely concerning”.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2016