Salma Tanveer: College principal sentenced to death over blasphemy

Lahore: Salma Tanveer, a college principal in her 50s, was on Monday handed down death sentence on blasphemy charges.

The capital punishment was ordered by an Aditional District and Session Judge in Lahore years after a case was registered against the woman.

Judge Mansoor Ahmad Qureshi ruled that the suspect failed to prove that she was a person of unsound mind.

The woman, an owner and principal of a private school, was accused of distributing photocopies of her writings wherein she denied the finality of prophethood and claimed her as a prophet.

Her lawyer Mian Muhammad Ramzan told the court that his client was of unsound mind at the time of occurrence. He said the magistrate concerned had ordered mental examination of the suspect which remained pending without any fault on the part of the suspect.

Salma Tanveer was arrested in 2013.The FIR was lodged by the prayer leader (Khateeb) of Jamia Masjid Anwar-e-Madina in Bahadurabad neighbourhood of Lahore.

The prayer leader Qari Iftikhar Ahmad Raza alleged that Salma Tanveer, had published and distributed pamphlets in the area “whereby she denied Khatam-e-Nubuwat (finality of the prophethood).