LAHORE – A court in Lahore has sentenced a woman to life in prison after finding her guilty of burning pages of the Holy Quran.
According to government prosecutor Mohazib Awais, the Muslim woman named Aasiya Bibi was arrested in 2021 on blasphemy charges after residents claimed she desecrated the Holy Quran by burning its pages. On Wednesday, the court announced its verdict against Aasiya in Lahore. Aasiya denied the charge against her during her trial and she has the right to appeal.
Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting the religion or religious figures can be sentenced up to death. The country has yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy, but even an accusation can trigger riots.
In 2019, a Christian Aasiya Bibi was acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan. She moved to Canada immediately after her release from jail due to death threats from extremists. However, this new case involved a different woman.
Earlier this month, a court in Punjab’s Gujranwala city sentenced a 22-year-old student to death and gave a teenager a life sentence in two separate cases of blasphemy. They were found guilty of insulting Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
