Veena Malik sentenced to 26 years in jail for blasphemy
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New Delhi, Nov 26 (ANI): Pakistani actress Veena Malik has been sentenced to 26 years in jail for blasphemy. She, along with the owner of Pakistan's biggest media group, Geo TV, and her actor husband Asad Bashir Khan, has been sentenced to 26 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court for allegedly airing a blasphemous programme. Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, owner of Geo and Jang group, was accused of allowing the airing of a blasphemous programme by Geo television in May that played a religious song as a backdrop to Malik and Khan's mock marriage. Judge Shahbaz Khan also sentenced both Malik and Bashir along with TV host Shaista Wahidi for 26 years each. The ATC also imposed a 1.3 million Pakistani rupees fine on the convicts and ordered that their properties should be sold to raise the fine, if they failed to pay it. The judge said in his judgment that all four accused committed profanity. The court in its 40-page verdict also asked the police to arrest the convicts, an official said. He said that the convict can appeal in the regional high court in Gilgit-Baltistan. Meanwhile, reports claim that the four people named are all out of Pakistan at the moment. It is not known when the arrests would be carried out. Both Wahidi and the Geo group have tendered apology after the allegations
