Pakistan Blasphemy News: Court Sentences Student To Death Over Whatsapp Messages, Triggers Debate And Outcry

A 22-year-old student has been sentenced to death by a court in Punjab Province, Pakistan, on charges of blasphemy over Whatsapp messages, as ruled this week.

The court stated that he had shared blasphemous pictures and videos with the intention to outrage the religious feelings of Muslims.

Pakistan Blasphemy: Court Sentences Student To Death

Additionally, a 17-year-old was handed a life imprisonment sentence as part of the same case, with both defendants denying any wrongdoing. Blasphemy in Pakistan is punishable by death, and some individuals have faced lynching even before their cases proceed to trial, as reported by BBC.

The complaint against them was lodged in 2022 by the cybercrime unit of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Lahore, which was later referred to a local court in Gujranwala city. In the recent ruling, the judges decreed that the 22-year-old was sentenced to death for preparing photos and videos containing derogatory words about Prophet Muhammad and his wives.

The younger defendant received a life sentence for sharing the material. The plaintiff alleged receiving the videos and photos from three different mobile phone numbers. The FIA confirmed examining the plaintiff's phone and establishing the transmission of "obscene material" to him. Defence lawyers argued that the two students had been "trapped in a false case."

The father of the death-row convict, whose identity has been withheld, informed the BBC of filing an appeal in the Lahore High Court. The other student was sentenced to life imprisonment instead of the death penalty due to being a minor, as stated by the court, as per BBC reports.

Blasphemy laws were initially codified by India's British rulers and were expanded in the 1980s under Pakistan's military government. Last August, in the eastern city of Jaranwala, numerous churches and homes were torched following accusations against two Christian men of damaging the Quran.