Mashal lynching case: 25 convicts released on PHC orders

The Peshawar High Court's (PHC) Abbottabad circuit bench ordered on Tuesday to release the 25 people on bail, who were sentenced to three years in jail in Mashal Khan lynching case.

The PHC suspended the jail terms handed to 25 people after the convicts submitted the surety bonds to the court, local media reported. The convicts had challenged their convictions in the PHC.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) had handed three years of jail time to them on February 7. The ATC had also sentenced one of the prime suspects Imran to death, while sending five suspects to prison for 25 years. And had acquitted 26 of the suspects involved in the case.

Twenty-three-year-old Mashal, who was a student of mass communication and media studies at Abdul Wali Khan University, was lynched by a mob on April 13 last year after blasphemy allegations. The video of his murder, which circulated on social media, was also presented as evidence in front of the court.