Pakistan court sentences man to death for sharing blasphemous content in WhatsApp group

PESHAWAR – An anti-terrorism court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa capital has awarded death sentence to a man for sharing blasphemous content in a WhatsApp group.

The court convicted the man, who is the resident of Mardan under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act and Anti-Terrorist Act after he was found guilty. He has also been sentenced to 23 years in jail while Rs800,000 fine has also been imposed.

The convict has however been given a chance to file an appeal against the verdict. The Federal Investigation Agency had arrested the suspect in 2021 after a case was registered against him on a complaint filed by a resident of Talagang district in Punjab.

The investigators seized his cell phone and found him guilty after forensic examination of the phone’s record.

The National Commission of Justice and Peace’s data shows 774 Muslims and 760 members of various minority religious groups were accused of blasphemy in the last 20 years.