LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Tuesday a prayer leader of Kasur to five years in jail for delivering a hate speech at a public gathering.

A case under Section 9 of the Anti-Terrorism Act had been registered against Qari Abubakar at Kot Radha Kishan police station on a complaint lodged by a sub-inspector.

According to the prosecution, the prayer leader was inciting people against a particular religious sect and he was arrested on the spot.

Also read: Sindh asked to take on hate speech, ‘extremist material’

The prosecution also produced before the court the video recording of the speech.

The accused denied the charge and took the plea that he did not attend the gathering. The defence counsel accused police of implicating his client in a fabricated case and requested the court to acquit him.

After going through the case, Judge Haroon Latif sentenced the cleric to five-year term. According to an official, 21 people have been convicted this year of delivering hate speeches. Some of them had been jailed for up to eight years. Two of them are from Lahore.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2015

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