LAHORE: A Pakistani man was sentenced to 13 years in prison Thursday for allegedly posting religiously offensive material on his Facebook page, lawyers in the case said.

Rizwan Haider, 25, was convicted in an anti-terrorism court of three charges including promoting sectarian hatred, after he supposedly published a post referring to Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

“This case... was registered against Haider, who is a Shiite Muslim by faith, in January for posting objectionable material against the belief of Sunni Muslims,” Adeel Chattah, public prosecutor in the case, told AFP.

He was also fined 250,000 rupees ($2,500), 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.