A death sentence imposed on a 26-year-old Muslim woman for sharing blasphemous messages over WhatsApp and Facebook has divided social media in Pakistan.
The hashtags #SaveAneeqa and #HangAneeqa started trending on Twitter in the wake of the Jan. 19 verdict by a sessions court in Rawalpindi convicting Aneeqa Ateeq under Section 295-C (blasphemy) for sharing images deemed to be insulting to Prophet Muhammad and one of his wives.
In her plea to the court, Aneeqa said she was deliberately pulled into a religious controversy by a male friend and the complainant in the case after she refused his overtures. The two had reportedly met online and connected on WhatsApp.
Besides being sentenced to death along with a fine of 50,000 rupees (US$283), she was also given a 20-year jail sentence under various sections of the Pakistani Penal Code including 298-A, pertaining to derogatory remarks against holy personages.
“295 C Red Zone of Muslim. Hang all Blasphemers! #HangAneeqa,” stated Nasir Mahmood, an activist of Radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, in his Jan. 24 tweet.
However, academics like Ammar Ali Jan, a member of the Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement, a democratic pressure group, cited the plight of several blasphemy victims in his tweet.
Church leaders and human rights groups say blasphemy allegations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores
“Aneeqa Ateeq accused of blasphemy after refusing a man’s advances and sentenced to death. Junaid Hafeez implicated by jealous colleagues and jailed. Mashal Khan lynched at behest of corrupt university admin. Blasphemy charges wreck lives and are a disservice to Islam and Pakistan,” he said.
Hafeez, a university professor, was sentenced to death in 2019 after being in solitary confinement for more than six years under blasphemy charges for insulting Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.
Khan, a journalism student, was lynched by a mob at a university in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2017.
Blasphemy has been a sensitive issue in Pakistan. Church leaders and human rights groups say blasphemy allegations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores.
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According to the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), 89 people, including 18 women, have been killed in accusations and cases of blasphemy in the country since modern Pakistan was formed in 1947.
Allegations of blasphemy were made against 107 women and 1,308 men up to 2021, claims the think-tank. “The actual number is believed to be higher because not all blasphemy cases get reported in the press,” states the CRSS report, adding that more than 70 percent of the accused were reported from Punjab province.
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