New York, Feb. 27 -- Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Pakistani authorities to quash the decades-long blasphemy conviction of academic Junaid Hafeez, who has been held in prison for 13 years under the country's strict blasphemy laws, highlighting serious concerns about due process and human rights violations.

According to a release by the HRW, Hafeez, then in his 20s, was arrested on March 13, 2013, in Pakistan's Punjab province for allegedly posting blasphemous comments on Facebook. In December 2019, a court in Multan sentenced him to death after a trial repeatedly delayed over several years and conducted inside a high-security prison due to fears of mob violence.

His appeal is still pending, and he has been in solitary confineme...