In December 2019, after five long years of litigation, Junaid Hafeez, a professor at Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, Pakistan, was sentenced to death on a charge of blasphemy. This came at the end of more than five years in solitary confinement. He was 27 upon his initial detention and 33 when he received his sentence.

"The case was an open case where nothing was proved against my brother. The judge has given this decision under fear while ignoring all arguments and facts." - Jawad Hafeez, Junaid's brother

Junaid was a Fulbright scholar who attended Jackson State University in Mississippi before returning to Pakistan to teach. His father argues there was a contingent of Islamist students who held disdain for Junaid’s liberalism and conducted a vigorous campaign to portray him as a blasphemer. This, according to Junaid’s father, is the origin of his son’s charge. Certainly, in the wake of this turmoil, Junaid’s new label lost him his job and housing at the university.

This was not enough; shortly, Junaid was arrested on charges of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. His case, by now, had national attention—enough that some particularly vengeful attackers murdered Junaid’s lawyer, Rashid Rehman, in 2014. About to endure a protracted bureaucratic process rife with delays, Junaid languished in confinement while an atmosphere of oppression and retribution kept his family in fear.

According to his lawyer, the day before his sentencing, Junaid was in a very good mood. After the end of the long-awaited trial, nearly all observers agreed that the prosecution failed to prove their case. This, of course, did not matter. Junaid’s family maintain that the judge rendered his verdict not out of respect for the law and the facts of the case but for fear of retribution from a zealous mob.