1. A 22-year-old Pakistani student faces the death penalty after being convicted of blasphemy in Punjab province.
2. The ruling, issued by a court this week, stems from the student’s distribution of disrespectful content about Prophet Muhammad via WhatsApp.
3. Blasphemy charges in Pakistan can carry severe penalties, including death, although no executions have been carried out by the state for this offense.
Islamabad, March 09: A 22-year-old Pakistani student has been condemned to death on charges of blasphemy, following a ruling by a court in Punjab province, as reported by BBC on Friday.
The court verdict, delivered this week, cited the student’s sharing of photos and videos containing derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad on WhatsApp as the basis for the death penalty.
Another student, aged 17, received a life sentence for the same offense, taking into account his minor status.
Blasphemy is a grave offense in Pakistan, punishable by death, although the state has yet to execute anyone under this law.
However, several accused individuals have been lynched by enraged mobs.
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The case against the students originated from a complaint filed by the Federal Investigation Agency’s cybercrime unit in Lahore in 2022, alleging the receipt of ‘obscene material’ from three different mobile numbers.
Despite the defense’s claims of innocence and a fabricated case, the FIA’s investigation confirmed the presence of such material on the complainant’s phone.
The father of the student sentenced to death intends to challenge the verdict in the Lahore High Court, according to BBC reports.
This incident follows previous episodes of religiously motivated violence in Pakistan, such as the defacement of over 80 Christian residences and 19 churches last August, sparked by allegations of Quran desecration against two Christian brothers.
Another high-profile case involved Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who faced blasphemy charges for a decade before her death sentence was overturned, allowing her to leave the country.
