Kot Radha Kishan: Court upholds death sentence of three convicts
Last month, the court reserved a verdict upon conclusion of arguments of the defense and prosecution
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday upheld the death sentence of three convicts and acquitted two others in the lynching and burning alive of a Christian couple who were accused of blasphemy in Kasur’s Kot Radha Kishan in the year 2014.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan, dismissed appeals filed by convicts Riaz, Irfan, and Mehdi Khan, who had challenged their sentence.
However, the court acquitted Hanif and Hafiz.
In November, 2016, an anti-terrorism court sentenced them to death on four counts each after they were found guilty of burning Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi alive in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan near Lahore.
Last month, the LHC’s bench reserved a verdict upon conclusion of arguments of the defense and prosecution.
It was said that the owner of the brick kiln had accused the couple of committing blasphemy over a financial dispute.
The incident was widely condemned by human rights, minority and social groups across the country.
