Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death over blasphemy on WhatsApp

A Pakistani Christian woman, mother of four children, was sentenced to death for blasphemy in Islamabad on Thursday. She was convicted of posting offensive content on the WhatsApp communication channel. The woman has the right to appeal. Death sentences in Pakistan are carried out by hanging.

Blasphemy accusations and arrests, or lynch attempts, are common in Pakistan. However, death sentences for "blasphemers" are rather rare.

The case of the Christian woman Asia Bibi attracted international attention, recalls the DPA agency. The woman spent nearly ten years on death row before being acquitted in 2018.

Pakistan, like many other Muslim countries, has exceptionally strict laws regarding the protection of religious feelings. Articles protecting religions from desecration of places of worship were introduced into the penal code by the British government during Hindu-Muslim tensions in the 1920s.

They protected all religions in then-India from desecrating their places of worship, disrupting religious assemblies, desecration of cemeteries, and insulting feelings. The maximum penalty was imprisonment for up to one to two years, and only intentional actions were judged.

Pakistan adopted these measures after gaining independence in 1947, and they were not changed until the 1980s.

During General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq's rule, as part of the Islamization of law, new tough regulations were introduced into the penal code. These regulations stipulated that anyone who "by act, word, gesture, insinuation or attribution" desecrates the name of the Prophet Muhammad would be subject to life imprisonment or death and a fine. Since then, no government has attempted to change it.