Pakistan: 26-year-old girl given dying sentence for ‘blasphemous’ WhatsApp standing

On January 19, Wednesday, the Rawalpindi Court in Pakistan sentenced a younger Pakistani girl to dying underneath part 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code for a ‘blasphemous’ Whatsapp standing. Aneeqa Ateeq, 26, had allegedly despatched a blasphemous textual content message and caricatures of Prophet Muhammad through Whatsapp. She was arrested in May 2020 and was left to languish in jail till her dying sentence was handed out on Wednesday.
The verdict was handed out within the garrison metropolis of Rawalpindi, with the courtroom ruling that she ought to be “hanged by her neck till she is dead”. Besides, she was additionally awarded a 20-year jail sentence together with a complete high quality of Rs 2,00,000.
The Pakistan courtroom verdict (supply: @nailainayat on Twitter)
The Pakistan courtroom verdict (supply: @nailainayat on Twitter)
According to reviews, she had used the messaging platform to ship a ‘blasphemous’ textual content message and caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.
A abstract issued by the courtroom acknowledged that when a buddy urged her to vary her Whatsapp standing, she as an alternative forwarded the fabric to him.
Pakistan has stringent legal guidelines towards blasphemy with punishment starting from jail phrases to the dying penalty. According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, about 80 individuals have been jailed in Pakistan on blasphemy allegations, with half of them going through the dying penalty or life imprisonment.
In January, a periods courtroom decide in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi district sentenced to dying Zafar Bhatti (51), the longest-serving blasphemy convict who has been rotting in Pakistan jail since 2012. Zafar Bhatti who belongs to the Christian neighborhood has been sentenced to dying underneath part 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Unfortunately, such barbarism has grow to be quite widespread within the Islamic and desperately poor nation.
In December final 12 months, a Sri Lankan man Priyantha Kumara was burnt alive by a murderous mob in Pakistan’s Sialkot on allegations of blasphemy. Disturbing visuals of Kumara’s physique burning even because the mob gathered round to take selfies and video with the burning man had gone viral on social media.
The mob was heard chanting ‘Gustakh e Nabi ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda, sar tan se juda’ chants. This chant loosely means the one acceptable punishment for ‘insult’ of Prophet Muhammad is beheading.
However, as common, as an alternative of condemning such barbarity on the pretext of faith, Pakistan PM Imran Khan had gone on to downplay the heinous crime by referring to the assault on Priyantha Kumara as ‘vigilante attack’. Khan had conveniently skipped the half that Kumara was burnt alive on allegations of blasphemy. The Pakistan police had additionally stood like mute spectators whereas the mob chanted, referred to as for the beheading of a person and burnt him alive for ‘blasphemy’ as a result of they had been ‘helpless’.