A 22-year-old student in Pakistan has been sentenced to death after being convicted of blasphemy for sending WhatsApp messages that were found to contain derogatory content about Prophet Muhammad. The verdict was issued by a court in Punjab province, sparking intense debate over the country’s stringent blasphemy laws. In addition to the student, a 17-year-old was also sentenced but received life imprisonment due to his status as a minor. Both convictions emerged from a complaint filed by Pakistan’s cybercrime unit in 2022, citing the transmission of ‘obscene material’ via mobile phones.
The lawyers for the convicted students have rejected the allegations, claiming their clients were falsely implicated. In response to the court’s judgment, the elder student’s father has initiated an appeal process at the Lahore High Court. Despite the harsh penalties prescribed for blasphemy in Pakistan, no executions have been carried out by the state for such offenses. Nonetheless, accusations of blasphemy have frequently led to acts of vigilantism and mob lynching.
These cases come in the wake of previous incidents, including the vandalism of Christian homes and churches following blasphemy accusations against members of the Christian community. One of the most noted cases involved Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who, after a protracted legal fight, saw her death sentence for blasphemy overturned and subsequently left Pakistan. Blasphemy remains a highly sensitive and divisive issue in the country, with the potential to incite significant violence and upheaval among religious communities.