Court sentences four men to death for ‘online blasphemy’

RAWALPINDI: A local court sentenced four men to death for committing ‘online blasphemy’, a prosecution lawyer told AFP on Monday.

“They were sentenced to death… on Friday for spreading blasphemous content online against the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the Quran,” Rao Abdur Raheem, a lawyer from the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan (LCBP), told AFP.

“Our case was supported by forensic evidence from the devices used in this heinous act,” he said.

A member of a support group formed by the families confirmed the sentence to AFP and said the group would challenge the conviction.

“The pattern of arrests and prosecutions in this case is consistent with previous ones,” said the support group member, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

“We urge the government to establish a commission to investigate the rise in these cases before these young individuals spend the best years of their lives behind bars.”

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Many of the online blasphemy cases are being brought to trial by private “vigilante groups” led by lawyers and supported by volunteers who scour the internet for offenders, rights groups and police say.

The LCBP is the most active of those groups in Pakistan.

Sheraz Ahmad Farooqi, one of the group’s leaders, told AFP in October that “God has chosen them for this noble cause”.

Meanwhile, Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist Imaan Mazari has accused Rao Abdur Raheem and his group of targeting individuals, mostly young people on social media, through a honey-trapping scheme disguised as job offers.

According to Mazari, once individuals are trapped, blasphemous content is sent to their phone numbers and shared in group chats, with the victims then being falsely accused of blasphemy.

Mazari further alleges that the group operates in collusion with FIA officials, arresting individuals and blackmailing them for bribes.

She claims that those who can afford to pay are released, while those unable to pay are sent to jail and subjected to trials, often resulting in convictions. Mazari also highlights that most victims of these blasphemy accusations are Muslims.

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp increase in the prosecution of online blasphemy cases, with private groups bringing charges against hundreds of young individuals for allegedly committing blasphemy.

A report published by the government-run National Commission for Human Rights in October last year said there were 767 people, mostly young men, in jail awaiting trial over blasphemy allegations.

“In these cases, due process was notably disregarded, with significant procedural violations observed at multiple stages,” the report said.

“Arrests were often carried out by private individuals rather than law enforcement.”

Cases can drag through the courts for years, although death penalties are often commuted to life in prison on appeal at the Supreme Court.

A special court was formed in September to expedite the dozens of pending cases.