A court in Rawalpindi has sentenced four men to death for posting blasphemous content online, a lawyer from the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan (LCBP) confirmed on Monday.
“They were sentenced to death … on Friday for spreading blasphemous content online,” said Rao Abdur Raheem, a lawyer with the LCBP. He added that forensic evidence from the devices used in the alleged offenses supported the prosecution’s case.
Despite convictions in several cases, Pakistan has never carried out an execution for blasphemy. Appeals often lead to sentences being commuted to life imprisonment.
A member of a support group for the convicted men, who spoke anonymously because of security concerns, said the families would appeal the verdict.
“We call on the government to investigate the growing number of online blasphemy cases before more young individuals spend the best years of their lives behind bars,” the member said.
Rights groups have raised concerns about the increasing number of online blasphemy prosecutions. A report by the National Commission for Human Rights in October revealed that 767 individuals, mostly young men, are currently in prison awaiting trial for blasphemy.
“In these cases, due process was notably ignored with significant procedural violations observed at multiple stages,” the report said. It added that private individuals rather than law enforcement often make arrests in such cases.
LCBP, a prominent group of private lawyers and volunteers, has been at the forefront of prosecuting online blasphemy cases. Sheraz Ahmad Farooqi, one of its leaders, described the group’s efforts as a “noble cause” in an earlier interview.
A special court was set up last September to speed up dozens of pending blasphemy cases, some of which have dragged on for years.
