Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Pakistan authorities on Thursday to quash the conviction of Junaid Hafeez, who was sentenced to death in 2019 under the country’s blasphemy provisions after being arrested in March 2013. The rights group described his prolonged detention and years in solitary confinement as “emblematic of the unjust and abusive nature” of the country’s blasphemy framework and called for his immediate release and review of the conviction.

Hafeez was tried at Multan Central Jail amid security concerns in December 2019 and was convicted for alleged blasphemous Facebook posts, including classroom remarks. Subsequently, he was sentenced to death and has reportedly been held in solitary confinement since mid-2014, a measure HRW says amounts to cruel and inhuman treatment.

The procedural trajectory has renewed scrutiny after the Lahore High Court announced a hearing of Hafeez’s appeal in March 2025, but then removed the matter from the cause list a day after the announcement, delaying judicial review. Observers have noted repeated adjournments and the difficulties defense counsel face in blasphemy cases, including security threats and even attacks on lawyers.

A range of civil society and watchdog organizations, including Atheist Alliance International and Amnesty International, have publicly called for Hafeez’s release and for systemic reforms to the blasphemy laws. They have expressed concerns over the provisions that are overly broad, frequently misused for vendettas, and incentivize vigilante violence. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2025 country update likewise provided that Hafeez remained in detention pending appeal.

Rights groups have also called upon Islamabad to both investigate threats linked to blasphemy accusations and to adopt the procedural protections the government signaled it would introduce in late 2025.