PESHAWAR, June 13: The Federal Shariat Court has suspended the sentence of 80 lashes awarded to a doctor of Peshawar by a trial court under the Qazf law and released him on bail.

A full bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Yousaf on Thursday in Islamabad also admitted the appeal of Dr Nazeer Ahmad to full hearing.

The bench directed that the appellant should be released on furnishing two sureties of Rs2,00,000 each.

The appellant was convicted by an additional district and sessions judge in Peshawar on June 4, for accusing his sister-in-law of fornication and was sentenced to 80 lashes.

He was sentenced under the Offence of Qazf (Enforcement of Hadd) Ordinance, 1979.

Advocate Ajmal Khan appeared for the appellant before the Shariat Court and argued that the evidence on record was not enough for awarding sentence to the appellant under the Hadd. He contended that under the Qazf law, an accused could only be convicted if he confessed his guilt, committed Qazf before a competent court or two men witnesses gave direct evidence of the commission of the offence.