PESHAWAR, July 10: A journalist convicted under the blasphemy law, Munawar Mohsin, filed an appeal in the Peshawar High Court on Thursday.

The appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs50,000 by the additional district and sessions judge, Sardar Mohammad Irshad, on July 8 and was held responsible for publication of a blasphemous letter in The Frontier Post on Jan 29, 2001.

The appellant has prayed the high court to set aside his conviction by the trial court as the appearance of the controversial letter was neither wilful nor intentional.

The appeal, filed through advocate Kamran Arif, maintained that the judgment was against the law and facts on record of the case.

The appellant said the trial judge had committed grave illegality by not following mandatory provision of section 465 of the Criminal Procedure Code even when it was established during the prosecution evidence that the appellant had a history of mental illness and had received treatment for the same.

The trial judge, he added, had solely relied on the so-called confessional statement of the appellant, which was clearly exculpatory in nature and, hence, could not be relied upon.

The confessional statement, even if believed, would totally absolve the appellant of any criminal liability as it clearly stated that the appellant had not read the contents of the blasphemous letter received by e-mail in the office of The Frontier Post.