22-year-old Pakistani student sentenced to death over 'blasphemous' WhatsApp message

A Pakistani student, aged 22, has been handed a death sentence due to blasphemy charges stemming from Whatsapp messages, as per a report by BBC on Friday.

A court in Punjab province of Pakistan stated during this week's ruling that the student was given the death sentence for sharing photos and videos which contained disrespectful remarks about Prophet Muhammad. Meanwhile, another student, aged 17, was given a life sentence rather than the death penalty, considering his minor status, as reported by BBC.

In Pakistan, a student has been sentenced to death on charges of blasphemy, a crime punishable by death in the country. Despite the stringent law, no execution for blasphemy has been carried out by the state till date. However, numerous accused have met their end at the hands of enraged mobs. The action against the student was initiated after a complaint lodged by the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) cybercrime unit in Lahore in 2022. The complainant claimed to have received 'obscene material' from three distinct mobile numbers. Post investigation, the FIA confirmed the receipt of such material on the complainant's phone. The implicated students' lawyers have, however, refuted the charges, asserting that their clients have been ensnared in a fabricated case. The father of the student sentenced to death plans to appeal against the judgement in the Lahore High Court, as per a report by the BBC.

In August of the previous year, over 80 Christian residences and 19 churches in Pakistan were reported to have been defaced following accusations of Quran desecration against two Christian brothers. In a separate yet prominent incident, a Christian woman named Asia Bibi became the focal point of a blasphemy controversy that lasted for a decade. Her death sentence was eventually repealed, leading to her departure from the country.

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