Woman sentenced to death for online blasphemy under PECA laws

A Christian woman was senten­ced to death on Thursday for committing online blasphemy under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).

Dawn reports that the woman is a mother of four. She had previously sought bail from both the trial court and the Islamabad High Court (IHC), but her bail applications got rejected by both.

Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka convicted the woman under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 11 of PECA laws. While Section 295 strictly pertains to blasphemy laws, Section 11 of PECA laws deals with hate speech.

The law states that “whoever prepares or disseminates information, through any information system or device, that advances or is likely to advance interfaith, sectarian, or racial hatred shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years or with a fine or with both”.

Along with the death penalty, the court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on the woman.

A private citizen by the name of Shiraz Ahmed lodged a complaint against the woman in the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cyber crime wing. The case was then brought to the court.

The first information report (FIR) states that the womam is accused of pos­ting blasphemous content about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) on social media in September 2020.

However, FIA registered the case against her on July 29, 2021.