LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court sentenced a man to 13 years in prison on Thursday for allegedly posting religiously offensive material on his Facebook page, lawyers in the case said.

Rizwan Haider, 25, was convicted in an ATC of three charges including promoting sectarian hatred over one of his Facebook posts.

This case was registered against Rizwan in January, Adeel Chattah, public prosecutor in the case, told AFP.

He was also fined Rs0.25 million, Chattah said, adding that he denied the charges and has the right to appeal.

His lawyer dismissed the accusations.

“He only liked it and did not post it on the page,” Shameem Zaidi said.

Pakistan tightened its hate crime laws as part of a campaign to combat extremism after a Taliban attack at a school in Peshawar in December 2014 killed 153 people, mostly children.

Authorities have arrested and sentenced several religious clerics for hate speech in recent months.