Lawyer of Junaid Hafeez, a Pakistai scholar imprisoned for 13 years, is hopeful for his release

Junaid Hafeez, a former university lecturer and Fullbright scholar was thrown in prison 13 years ago under Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws for comments he allegedly made on Facebook.  After a trial that spanned years, a court in 2019 sentenced him to death .

Last week, a high court in Lahore began hearing Hafeez's appeal, raising hopes his conviction could be overturned.

"I want to see my son free and back home. We are fighting a very difficult battle," Junaid Hafeez's father, Hafeez-un-Naseer, told DW.

Naseer said he met with his son in prison last Thursday through a glass window, speaking to him by phone.

Saif-ul-Malook, a lawyer representing Hafeez, said the academic has read thousands of books during his years in prison.

"He is an intellectual. His health is fine, but he is frustrated inside the jail," Malook told DW. "I am hopeful that under this bench, he will be released."

Before his arrest, Hafeez was a Fulbright scholar and had studied in the United States. He later returned to Pakistan and began working as a lecturer in English literature at Bahauddin Zakariya University in the city of Multan.

Human rights groups say that shortly after he began working there as a graduate student in 2011, he found himself targeted by an Islamist student group who took issue with what they considered Hafeez's "liberal" teaching.