Blasphemous content on social media: Three awarded death, another given 10-year jail

ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) here Friday sentenced three people to death for their involvement in uploading blasphemous content on social media.

The court also announced ten-year imprisonment and Rs100,000 fine to another accused on charges of disrespecting the religion.

ATC Judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan announced the decision which was reserved earlier after listening to the two sides at large. The court announced the sentence to the accused under sections A-295, C-295 and Anti-Terrorism Act’s section G-7 after the charges proved against them.

The three accused who were awarded death sentence included Nasir Ahmed, Abdul Waheed and Rana Noman while Professor Anwaar Ahmed was awarded ten-year imprisonment along with fine.

The accused were produced before the ATC from Adiala Jail amid foolproof security arrangements in place. It may be mentioned here that the Islamabad Police had registered first information report (FIR) against the four accused on directives of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Shaukat Aziz Saddiqi on March 19, 2017 on the complaint of Hafiz Ahtisham.

The court reserved its judgment on December 15, 2020 after conclusion of arguments from both sides at large. The court had also declared other accused including Tayyab Sardar, Rao Qaiser Shahzad, Faraz Pervaiz and Pervaiz Iqbal as absconders and had issued their non-bailable arrest warrants.