Mashal lynching case: PHC commutes death sentence of main accused

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday commuted the death sentence of the main person convicted in the lynching case of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan student Mashal Khan. Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Syed Atiq Shah pronounced the verdict, which was reserved on September 30.

The convict, Imran Khan, had filed an appeal with the court asking it to reduce the sentence. The court converted the sentence into life imprisonment and declared the release of 25 accused in the case void and ordered their arrest. The court also upheld the life imprisonment sentences handed down to seven others.

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had convicted 31 of the 57 accused in the Mashal lynching case and sentenced to death Imran Khan, the prime accused. Seven accused were sentenced to life imprisonment and 25 others to three years in jail.

Later that same year, a division bench of the PHC, including Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Syed Atiq Shah, approved a bail plea filed by the 25 accused. Furthermore, 26 others accused in the case were acquitted, with the court finding that the prosecution had failed to prove charges against them. Mashal Khan, 23, a student of the Department of Mass Communication at the Abdul Wali Khan University was lynched by a mob over a false allegation of blasphemy on April 13, 2017.