An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced a cyber stalker to 24 years in jail for blackmailing 200 female doctors and nurses through social media accounts.
Anti-Terrorism Court Lahore Judge Sajjad Ahmad on Wednesday sentenced Abdul Wahab to a total of 24 years in prison along with a fine of Rs 7 lakh.
"All the sentences will run concurrently and benefit of section 382-B of CrPC shall be given to convict," the court ruled.
Mr Wahab, a resident of Punjab's Layyah district, was arrested in 2015 from Naran after reports that 200 women, working at government teaching hospitals of Lahore, had been harassed or blackmailed by him.
The Lahore Police registered a case against him on the complaint of the Young Doctors Association (YDA).
Most of the victims were house officers and postgraduate trainees from King Edward Medical University, Fatima Jinnah Medical University and Children Hospital, Lahore.
The convict introduced himself as an official of the "military intelligence (MI)" and extorted money from them by threatening to upload objectionable pictures of them on their Facebook accounts.
Dr Salman Kazmi, of YDA, said the convict also hacked the Whatsapp accounts of many doctors and nurses, blackmailing them with objectionable video clips and photos and then extorting money from them.
During the trial, 31 witnesses recorded their statements as state counsel Abdul Rauf Wattoo presented arguments from the prosecution side.
The defendant's lawyer claimed that "a false case" had been registered against his client and pleaded before the court to issue orders for his acquittal.
After listening to final arguments from both sides, Judge Ahmad sentenced Wahab to a total of 24 years in prison.
The convict will serve his sentence in Lahore''s Kot Lakhpat jail.
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