An additional district and sessions judge Gujrat on Friday sentenced a 22-year-old accused of blasphemy to death, while sending another accused to jail for life in the same case.
The two suspects had been booked by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on the charges of sharing blasphemous material through WhatsApp, and a case was lodged in Lahore. However, the case was referred by the Lahore High Court to a local court in Gujranwala for trial.The person awarded a life term is a 17-year-old.
The plaintiff had alleged he had received the videos and photos from three different mobile phone numbers.The FIA said that it had examined the plaintiff’s phone and established that “obscene material” had been sent. Defence lawyers argued that the two students had been “trapped in a false case”.
Defence lawyers argued that the two students had been “trapped in a false case”, according to the paper.
The blasphemy law seeks the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam and its prophet Mohammad. It says that any “derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine”.
The law is rooted in 19th century colonial legislation to protect places of worship and was strengthened as part of a drive to Islamise the state during the military dictatorship of General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s. Although no one has ever been executed, blasphemy convictions are common in Pakistan.
Most convictions are thrown out on appeal by higher courts, but mobs have lynched dozens of people in vigilante attacks even before a case is put on trial.