Man Sentenced To Death for WhatsApp Messages.

By Caroline Ameh

A 22-year-old student in Pakistan has been sentenced to death by a court in Punjab Province on charges of blasphemy related to WhatsApp messages.

The court ruled that the student had shared blasphemous pictures and videos on WhatsApp with the intent to outrage the religious feelings of Muslims. Alongside him, a 17-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment in the same case. Both defendants have denied any wrongdoing.

Blasphemy is a capital offense in Pakistan, and instances of individuals being lynched even before their cases go to trial are not unheard of.

The case was initially filed in 2022 by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cybercrime unit in Lahore and later referred to a local court in the city of Gujranwala.

In their ruling this week, the judges stated that the 22-year-old was sentenced to death for creating photos and videos containing derogatory language about Prophet Muhammad and his wives. The younger defendant received a life sentence for sharing the offensive material.

The plaintiff alleged that he had received the videos and photos from three different mobile phone numbers. The FIA confirmed that they had found obscene material on the plaintiff’s phone.

Defense lawyers argued that the two students had been unjustly implicated in a false case. The father of the student facing the death penalty stated his intention to file an appeal in the Lahore High Court.

The minor defendant was spared the death penalty due to his age, and instead, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have a contentious history, with their origins dating back to the British colonial era and being further expanded during Pakistan’s military rule in the 1980s.

In a similar incident last August, violent riots erupted in the eastern city of Jaranwala after two Christian men were accused of desecrating the Quran, resulting in the burning of numerous churches and homes