A Christian mother of 4 children on Wednesday received the death sentence after a judge convicted her under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, her attorney said.
Shagufta Kiran, 40, was convicted under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s widely condemned blasphemy laws for insulting Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, which carries a compulsory death sentence. Attorney Rana Abdul Hameed said Additional Session Judge Islamabad Muhammad Afzal Majoka also sentenced Kiran to a wonderful of 300,000 rupees ($1,077 USD) after her three-year trial.
She was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on July 29, 2021, in Islamabad for allegedly sharing blasphemous content in a WhatsApp group in September 2020. Her husband and two sons were also taken into custody throughout the raid but were later released.
“The criticism against Kiran was registered by a Muslim named Shiraz Ahmed Farooqi, who alleged that she had shared content disrespectful of Islam’s prophet,” Hameed told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “However, Kiran has maintained that she has not authored the content and had forwarded it within the WhatsApp group without reading it.”
Formerly a nurse, Kiran had joined several interfaith WhatsApp groups, where she proclaimed the gospel and defended her Christian faith. One such group, Pure Discussions, was administered by the complainant, Farooqi, Muhammad Ameer Faisal of India and Muhammad Jaleel of Canada.
Hameed said Kiran was a brave woman who remained steadfast throughout the trial.
“I met her after the judge issued the sentence and might confirm that she could be very hopeful of a positive end result from the superior courts,” he said. “However, she misses her family loads and desires to reunite with them as soon as possible.”
The attorney said he’ll file an appeal after the court issues the detailed order. He said the decision didn’t come as a surprise as 99 percent of those charged under Section 295-C are convicted by trial courts under pressure from Islamists.
“If you examine all cases of 295-C, the trial courts are likely to convict the accused even when the cases against them are very weak,” Hameed said. “This is because of the pressure of the religious groups and fears of mob violence. If you analyze all cases of 295-C, you will note that each one the convictions of the trial court are overturned by the superior courts.”
Nearly 3,000 individuals have been accused of blasphemy since 1987, in response to the Center for Social Justice (CSJ). The actual scale of abuse of those laws could also be three to 4 times higher, it noted in a report.
It stated that a whole lot of accused were incarcerated last 12 months in Pakistan, with 552 detained in prisons in Punjab Province alone. At least 350 individuals remained behind bars as of June, in response to the report, adding that 103 latest individuals had been accused of blasphemy this 12 months between January and June.
The report stated that at the least seven individuals accused of blasphemy have been killed by individuals or mobs across Pakistan since January. A complete of 94 people accused of blasphemy were killed in mob attacks between 1994 and 2023.
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of essentially the most difficult places to be a Christian, because it was the previous 12 months.
