LAHORE: Raja Parvez Akhtar, a judge of an anti-terrorism court, has jailed a man for 13 years after he posted what it deemed sectarian hate speech on Facebook, officials said on Monday, with rights activists condemning the ruling as “extremely concerning”.

Saqlain Haidar, 32, who ran a small hotel in Chiniot district, was also fined Rs250,000 for posting hate material against companions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) on Facebook, an official of the Counter Terrorism Department said.

Abdul Majeed, a senior local counter-terrorism official, confirmed the incident.

“The convict was arrested on Oct 27 after locals complained about him and he was charged for spreading sectarian hatred under various clauses of the anti-terrorism act,” he said.

Mr Majeed said the accused was released on bail a day later, then arrested and imprisoned on Nov 21 after the court convicted him.

In May a prayer leader in the Kasur district was jailed for five years for inciting hate against a minority sect. In October a former leader of a banned sectarian party was imprisoned for six months for hate speech.

Bytes for All, a human rights group, said it had not been able to verify the details of Haidar’s case, but added: “We are extremely concerned that an anti-terrorism court has been used to hear a case apparently related to online speech rather than to any violent activities.

“A spokesman pointed out that banned militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban and sectarian groups like Lashkar-i-Jhangvi have a significant social media presence in Pakistan and “appear to be operating freely under the eyes of authorities”.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has blocked hundreds of jihadist and sectarian websites and social media accounts in the past but they often pop up anew under different names.

Bytes for All said Haidar’s case was the first it knew of in which someone was convicted for posting sectarian material on Facebook, but that blasphemy charges were often brought against social media users.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2015