In a recent case, a 22-year-old student was sentenced to death in Pakistan on the charges of blasphemy over WhatsApp messages, according to media reports.
‘The student had prepared ‘blasphemous’ pictures and videos on the messaging application which consisted of derogatory words about Prophet Muhammad and his wives’, according to the Pakistan court.
The court ruled that the messages were intended to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims. In one such case, another 17-year-old student has also been sentenced to life imprisonment for sharing the ‘blasphemous’ pictures and videos. The teenager has not been awarded the death sentence as he is a minor.
In 2022, a complaint about the two students’ messages was filed by the cybercrime unit of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Lahore.
FIA said in the complaint that it had examined the students’ phones and found “obscene material”. According to the media reports, both students have denied the accusations, saying that they have been trapped in a false case.
Meanwhile, the father of the 22-year-old student has filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court against the lower court’s decision, according to the media reports.
Many churches were set on fire by a rampaging mob in eastern Pakistan after a Christian family was accused of blasphemy.
The attack was triggered by a group of religious zealots accusing a local Christian family of desecrating the Quran. Many images on social media at that time showed smoke rising from the church buildings and people setting fire to furniture.
In one such case, a Hindu school principal arrested and jailed in 2019 for alleged ‘blasphemy’ of Islam is cleared of the charges by Sindh High Court. In 2019, Notan Lal was arrested and jailed on charges of blasphemy after allegedly reprimanding an Islamic student for neglecting his Urdu studies.
The student told a fake story accusing Notan Lal of insulting Islam’s prophet, inciting a mob to besiege the school and desecrate a local Hindu temple in an eruption of religious animosity.
According to the media reports, Notan Lal received a life sentence from the additional district and sessions court of Sukkur for allegedly making blasphemous remarks. As per the counsel, the complainant made a false story out of revenge for being denied a job at the school and for being asked to pay outstanding fees for his son.
According to Sindhi social activists, Notan Lal became a target because he offered refuge to 11-year-old Monika and her family following her abduction in Hala, Sindh.
Pakistan has some of the world’s most harsh blasphemy laws, disproportionately imprisoning Hindu and Christian minorities.
The most recent blasphemy sentences have been death or rigorous imprisonment for life. A single accusation is sufficient to serve as “evidence” for an arrest.
Despite their widespread misuse and abuse, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws enjoy widespread support in Pakistan and have emboldened violent mobs to commit extrajudicial killings. Over 1,865 individuals were charged between 1987-2022, under blasphemy laws in Pakistan while 129 individuals were killed by extrajudicial mob justice for blasphemy
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