In Pakistan, a 22-year-old student has been sentenced to death for blasphemy based on WhatsApp mes💯sages, as reported by the BBC. The co🉐urt in Punjab province ruled that the student used photos and videos containing disrespectful language about Prophet Muhammad.
A 17-year-old student, also implicated, received a life sentence instead of the death penalty due to his minor status. Blasphemy carries the death penalty in Pakistan, though no executions by the state have occurred for this offense. However, there have been instances of individuals a🌸ccused of blasphemy being attacked by angry mඣobs.
The case began in 2022 when the cybercrime unit of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency ☂(FIA) in Lahore received a complaint. The complainant alleged receiving offensive material through three different mobile phone numbers. The FIA examined the complainant's phone and 🍷confirmed the presence of "obscene material."
Lawyers representing the stu🦂dents claim they are caught in a false case, and the father of the student facing the death penalty plans to ap🦄peal in the Lahore High Court.
This in𒉰cident follows a pattern of tension surrounding blasphemy accusations in Pakistan. In August of the previous year, more than 80 Christian homes and 19 churches were vandalized after accusations against two Christian brothers. Additionally, a well-known case involving Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, saw her death sentence overturned, and she fled the country after a decade-long blasphemy dispute.
