Four convicted for online blasphemy

RAWALPINDI:

A trial court in the garrison city has convicted four people for committing blasphemy and sentenced them to death while also imposing on them prison terms and fines.

Rawalpindi's Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Tariq Ayub on Friday unveiled his verdict in a case filed by the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Cybercrime Wing on October 22, 2022 against four people—Rana Usman, Ashfaq Ali, Salman Sajjad and Wajid Ali.

The court found the accused guilty of blasphemy against sacred personalities and desecration of the Holy Quran on Facebook and social media platforms.

It sentenced the convicts to death under Section 295-C, life imprisonment under Section 295-B, and ten years of imprisonment along with a fine of Rs100,000 each under Section 295-A.

Under Section 298-A, the convicts were sentenced to three years of imprisonment and fined Rs100,000 each. Under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (PECA) Act 2016, the convicts were sentenced to seven years of imprisonment and fined Rs100,000 each.

"All the above mentioned sentences of imprisonments awarded to the convicts shall run concurrently. Benefit of the section 382 of CrPC is given to the accused persons.

"Death sentences of the accused persons shall not be executed unless the same is confirmed by the Hon'ble Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench Rawalpindi. The convicts have been informed that they can file an appeal against the said conviction and sentence within one month," it added.