The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has formed a team of senior public prosecutors for the trial of dozens of accused in the Mashal Khan murder case, which is set to begin inside the Haripur Jail on Tuesday.
The K-P Home and Tribal Affairs Department issued a notification on Monday, appointing three senior public prosecutors to assist Hazara public prosecutor Abdul Hameed in the case. According to the prosecution, charges would be framed on Tuesday.
A senior home department official told that the additional team had been formed to counter a high number of defence lawyers. He said cases like this could see eight to 10 lawyers from the defence side.
The lawyers who would assist Hameed in the case are Zafar Abbas Mirza, Director Monitoring in the K-P Directorate General of Prosecution; Senior Public Prosecutor Buner Fazle Noorani and Senior Public Prosecutor Swat Arif Bilal.
Mashal, a student of the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, was lynched by his fellow students and university employees on April 13, 2017 after being accused of committing blasphemy.
