Christian woman gets death sentence for posting blasphemous content online

A Christian woman was sentenced to death by a local court in Islamabad for online blasphemy. The woman was accused of posting derogatory remarks against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in September 2020.

Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka found the accused guilty under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 11 of Peca. She was also fined Rs100,000 by the court.

The woman was a member of an Indian WhatsApp group that discussed religious matters. She was accused by Shiraz Ahmed, another member of the same group, of posting derogatory remarks.

The suspect's lawyer, Rana Abdul Hameed, said that the accused was added to a WhatsApp group in 2020, that was operated from India.

Later, the accused was also made the admin of this group. People from various religions participated in the group, where members would discuss and debate religious issues.

The plaintiff in the case reported the content shared in the WhatsApp group to the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) cybercrime wing. Subsequently, a case was registered against the accused, leading to her arrest in 2021.

All of the woman's electronic devices were seized and subjected to forensic analysis. Voice matching was conducted on the voice chat shared in the group. Based on these findings, the court sentenced her to death on Thursday, September 19.

The accused is a mother of four children. She sought bail in the case from both the trial court and the Islamabad High Court, but both courts rejected her request.

According to the Center for Social Justice, a total of 556 people are imprisoned in Pakistan for blasphemy, including 22 women. Some of these individuals have been convicted, while the cases against most of them are pending in various courts.

Out of 22 women in prisons, 16 are Muslims while six are Christian women.