A Rawalpindi court sentenced five men accused of death blasphemy, life imprisonment and a total of 100 years in prison, according to court orders issued on Tuesday.
According to the copy of the first information report (FIR) seen by Dawn.comThe case was presented by the Federal Research Agency (FIA) under sections 109 (punishment of the embedding if the abetive law is committed accordingly and when an express provision is not made for its punishment), 295a (deliberate and malicious acts destined to indign the religious feelings of any kind when inspiring their religion or religious beliefs), 295b (defilas, etc., etc. religious feelings [a] Copy of the Sacred Koran) and 295c (use of derogatory comments, etc., with respect to the Holy Prophet) of the Pakistan Criminal Code (PPC) and Section 11 (Hate Speech) of the Law on the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (PECA).
The plaintiff filed a request claiming that the blasphemous content was sharing on social networks and WhatsApp.
“[The suspect] Comes to Rawalpindi and yes [a] A timely raid is made, the alleged person could be trapped with the mobile device in which he is using the alleged Facebook account that is used to share online blasphemous content, ”said Fir.
The deputy director of the anti-blast unit authorized a raid near Airport Chowk, where the police team identified one of the suspects and registered it, recovering his phone.
A technical analysis of the phone data confirmed that the alleged Facebook account had been registered, showing multiple blasphemous images, which, according to the FIR, were a “clear attempt to damage the religious feelings of Muslims.” Four other suspects were identified through the Facebook account.
According to the court order, announced and issued on Tuesday by the additional sessions of Rawalpindi, Muhammad Tariq Ayub, the five defendants were sentenced to death under section 295c, granted life imprisonment under section 295b and granted 10 years in prison and a fine of RS100,000 under section 295a.
The defendants were also sentenced to three years in prison and delivered a fine of RS100,000 for violating section 298a (use of derogatory comments, etc., with respect to the sacred characters) of the PPC and granted another seven years in prison and a fine of RS100,000 under section 11 of Peca.
“All prison sentences mentioned above will be executed simultaneously,” the judge ordered. “The benefit of section 382B (detention period to consider when granting the prison sentence) of CRPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) is granted to the accused, the death sentence of the accused persons will not be executed unless the Honorable Superior Court of Lahore de lahore confirms, Lahore.”
Blasphymia is a incendiary position in Pakistan, where even foundation accusations can incite public outrage and lead to lynchings.
Youtuber Rajab Butt was reserved under the laws of blasphemy and cyber crime due to a “religious stir” caused by the launch of his perfume brand that supposedly made fun of the Blasphemia Law of Pakistan, arose on Tuesday.
In a recent video, since it was eliminated from its social media accounts, Butt launched its perfume “295” that refers to the homonymous blasphemy law on the PPC. He said he followed a case filed against him last year, throughout a previous video considered blasphemous by intransigent.
His perfume advertising caused a greater anger, which caused a leader of the religious festival Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to present a FIR with the Lahore Nishtar Colonia Police Station on Monday under section 295a of the PPC and Section 11 of Peca.
Earlier this year, a Lahore session court sentenced a man to death for committing blasphemy against Islamic figures and religious rituals.
According to the judicial order announced and issued today by the additional sessions, Judge Syed Shahzad Muzaffar Hamdani, the man was formally accused on January 27, 2021. The judge sentenced to death to the man hanging and subject to a fine of RS500,000 for violating section 295c.
