LAHORE – Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench overturned death sentences of four men accused of blasphemy, ordering their immediate release, citing that the horrific verdict was based solely on “mere screenshots” from a WhatsApp group.
The four men Faizan Razaq, Usman Liaqat, Wazir Gul, and Muhammad Amin Raees had been sentenced to death in 2023 by the Additional District and Sessions Judge of Rawalpindi, along with a fine of Rs100,000 each. The case was filed by the FIA Cyber Crime Wing, accusing them of sharing posts against sacred personalities.
During the high-profile appeal, lawyers argued that the entire conviction was based on photocopies and screenshots, with no concrete evidence presented in court. Shahid Langrial, representing Wazir Gul and Amin Rais, said the prosecution failed to provide any authentic proof linking his clients to the alleged blasphemous posts on social media.
Langrial further pointed out that Wazir Gul is a Hafiz-e-Quran who teaches children, while Amin Rais was a college student in Jhang. Both men, he argued, were wrongly ensnared in a WhatsApp group where objectionable material was allegedly shared by others and later circulated.
The lawyers of the other two convicts revealed a shocking loophole in the investigation, material shared in WhatsApp group was sometimes deleted and reshared by another member, yet the authorities filed blasphemy cases against the resharer without checking the full context. They also highlighted that FIA never summoned the group admin or examined other members’ devices, nor was any forensic analysis of the accused’s phones presented in court.
“These men, including Faizan Razaq and Usman Liaqat from KP, are barely literate daily-wage workers. Their lives were destroyed based on screenshots alone,” the lawyer said, calling the case a product of social media blackmail mafias active across the country.
The high court’s two-member bench, led by Justice Jawad Hassan, expressed shock at trial court’s reliance on mere WhatsApp screenshots to decide life and death. Justice Chaudhry Sultan Mahmood warned parents to monitor their children’s social media activity, pointing out that many students have been jailed on similar charges.
After reviewing all arguments, the Lahore High Court overturned the death sentences and ordered the immediate release of all four men.
