A Pakistani actress has been sentenced to 26 years in prison for blasphemy after appearing in a mock TV wedding.
Veena
Malik took part in the staged marriage on a morning show while
musicians sang a devotional song about the wedding of the Prophet
Muhammad's daughter.
Her
husband, Asad Bashir Khan, and the chief of the country's biggest media
group, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, were also handed 26-year jail terms.
Mrs
Malik, who has recently given birth to a baby boy, spoke of her anger
and disbelief after the verdict was handed down by a Pakistani
anti-terrorism court.
'I have
always faced troubles by looking it in the eye': Pakistani actress Veena
Malik has been sentenced to 26 years in prison after appearing in a
mock TV wedding which a court ruled insulted the Prophet Muhammad
However,
the order is unlikely to be implemented because the Gilgit-Baltistan
region is not considered a full-fledged province by Pakistan and
verdicts by its courts do not apply to the rest of the country.
Malik returned to Dubai two weeks ago from the U.S, but intends to return to Pakistan next month to fight her case.
She said: 'I have always been a person who faced troubles by looking it in the eye.
'I have faced highs and lows in my life. But I am sure I haven't done anything wrong.'
The host of the controversial show, which aired in May, has also been punished.
'26 years!
Come on... but I have faith in the higher courts': Mrs Malik, who has
recently given birth to a baby boy, spoke of her anger and disbelief
after the verdict was handed down by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court
The
four people convicted were also ordered to pay a fine of 1.3million
rupees (£8,000), sell their properties and surrender their passports,
according to a copy of the court order.
The
broadcast by Geo TV set off a storm of controversy on social media,
though similar routines by other channels in the past have largely gone
unnoticed.
Many observers at the time suspected Pakistan's military establishment of engineering the blasphemy campaign against Geo TV.
The channel was then caught up in a struggle with the all-powerful military.
The
blasphemy case was registered on May 26 in a police station in Gilgit
by a hardline sunni cleric Himayatullah Khan, deputy chief of the
anti-shia organisation Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) formerly known as
Sipah-e-Sahaba.
No lawyer appeared on behalf of any of the accused. However the court had arranged a state lawyer to defend them.
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