(ANSA) - ISLAMABAD, 20 JAN - A Pakistani woman of Muslim religion was sentenced to death in Pakistan for having sent a text and cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, deemed "blasphemous", via WhatsApp, based on a strictest anti-blasphemy law in the world but rarely applied up to the maximum, the capital one.
Aneeqa Ateeq, 26, was arrested in May 2020 and accused of sharing "blasphemous content" on WhatsApp, including cartoons, according to a statement released by the court.
The sentence was handed down in Rawalpindi. The court ordered Aneeqa Ateeq to be "hanged to death" and also sentenced her to 20 years in prison.
About 80 people are incarcerated in Pakistan for blasphemy, half of whom have been sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty, according to the US Commission on Religious Freedom in the World.
Human rights defenders believe blasphemy charges are being unfairly applied in Pakistan, sometimes to resolve personal disputes. Although they often concern Muslims, they mostly target religious minorities, especially Christians.
In December, a SriLankan factory manager was lynched and burned by an angry mob after being accused of blasphemy.
Among the best-known cases of accusations of blasphemy brought to the extreme in Pakistan, that of Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who remained on death row for eight years until the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted her in October 2018.
(ANSA) .
