A woman in Pakistan has been sentenced to death by a local court after she was found guilty of blasphemy, a crime under the country's laws. The woman allegedly sent caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad through a text message using the popular messaging platform WhatsApp.
A court in the city of Rawalpindi sentenced a woman named Aneeqa Atteeq to 20 years in prison, along with an order for her to be hung to death on an undisclosed date. She was found guilty of violating Pakistan's cybercrime and blasphemy laws.
Under Section 295 of the country's penal code, a relic of the British colonial system, blasphemy against religions is considered a crime. According to her charge, Atteeq was found guilty of "deliberately and intentionally" defiling sacred personalities and insulting the Muslim religion.
The case against Atteeq was brought by a man named Hasnat Farooq, who alleged that he had met her through an online mobile game in 2019. Farooq said they had become friends and transitioned their conversations on WhatsApp, a popular messaging app in Pakistan owned by Facebook - now called Meta.
Farooq said their conversations turned sour after Atteeq began insulting "holy personages" and sent him several caricatures of religious figures, including the Prophet Muhammad. Under Muslim law, any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, including caricatures, are considered to be extremely blasphemous.
Judge Adnan Mushtaq said in his verdict that Atteeq's actions, including posting blasphemous materials on her WhatsApp account, were "totally unbearable" and should not be tolerated.
Atteeq had reportedly denied all charges against her during her trial. She alleged that Farooq had purposefully dragged her into discussing religions, which forced her to make the comments. Atteeq alleged that Farooq only brought the charges against her because he wanted revenge after she refused his romantic advances.
Blasphemy is considered to be a severe offense in Pakistan, particularly when it involves caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Many people accused of promoting blasphemy have been condemned to death or other severe punishments, while some have been killed in public executions. The majority of those who had been accused of blasphemy were Christians or Hindus. However, in some cases, such as Atteeq's, Muslims might be accused of blasphemy as well.
Over the past few years, blasphemy trials in Pakistan have been heavily scrutinized by international rights groups. Trials for blasphemy allegations have been branded as "unfair" and a violation of freedom of expression. Apart from Pakistan, blasphemy is also considered a crime in countries such as India and Myanmar.
