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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan Sentences Woman to Death for Alleged Muhammad Cartoon on Whatsapp |
| 2022-01-23 |
| [Breitbart] A trial court in northern Pakistan’s Rawalpindi city sentenced a 26-year-old Muslim woman to death on Wednesday for blasphemy against Islam after finding her guilty of "sharing images deemed to be insulting to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and one of his wives" via the instant messaging application WhatsApp, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday. "The blasphemous material which was shared/installed by the female accused on her status [on WhatsApp messaging platform] and the messages as well as caricatures which were sent to the complainant are totally unbearable and not tolerable for a Muslim," Judge Adnan Mushtaq wrote in his verdict in the case on January 20. Rawalpindi’s Federal InvestiÂgation Agency (FIA) first filed charges including blasphemy against Aneeqa Ateeq in May 2020 based on the complaint of a man named Hasnat Farooq. Ateeq pled not guilty to the charges. Farooq met Ateeq online while participating in a multiplayer video game popular in Pakistan and continued to communicate with her afterward via WhatsApp. Ateeq wrote in an evidentiary statement to Rawalpindi’s trial court that Farooq "deliberately pulled her into a religious discussion to frame her after she refused ’to be friendly’ towards him," Al Jazeera relayed on Thursday. "So I feel that he intentionally dragged into this topic for revenge, that’s why he got registered [sic] a case against me and during [WhatsApp] chat he collected everything that went against me," Ateeq alleged. "Farooq contends the accused shared the allegedly blasphemous material as a WhatsApp status and refused to delete it when he confronted her on that messaging platform," according to Al Jazeera. Judge Adnan Mushtaq issued Ateeq a death sentence on Wednesday according to "Section 295-C [blasphemy]" of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPP), the Karachi-based newspaper Dawn reported on January 20. The Rawalpindi trial court additionally awarded Ateeq a 10-year prison sentence and a $283 fine according to "Section 295-A [insulting religious belief]" of the national penal code. Judge Mushtaq further convicted Ateeq of "posing as [a] Muslim under Section 298 of the PPC and awarded [her a] three years sentence with Rs50,000 [$283] fine," Dawn reported. Ateeq received a separate seven-year prison sentence and another $283 fine on Wednesday for violating Section 11 of Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), which pertains to "hate speech." |
| Posted by:Omolung Juns5303 |