Pakistani court sentences Christian to death for posting hateful content against Muslims

A Pakistani court has sentenced a Christian to death for allegedly spreading hateful content against Muslims on social media, following one of the worst mob attacks on Christians in the eastern Punjab province last year, his lawyer said on July 1, adding that he would appeal the verdict.

In August 2023, groups of Muslim men burned dozens of homes and churches in the town of Jaranwala after some residents claimed they saw two Christian men tearing out pages from Islam’s holy book, the Quran, throwing them on the ground and writing offensive remarks on other pages, authorities said. The two men were later arrested.

No casualties were reported at the time as frightened Christians fled their homes for safer areas. Although police arrested more than 100 suspects after the attacks, it remained unclear whether any of them were convicted.

While Ehsan Shan was not involved in the desecration, he was accused of reposting the defaced pages of the Quran on his TikTok account, his lawyer Khurram Shahzad said. The Associated Press on July 1. He also said he would appeal against the death sentence imposed on June 29 by a court in the town of Sahiwal in Punjab province.

Amir Farooq, a police officer who arrested Mr Shan, said the man “shared the hateful content at a sensitive time when authorities were already struggling to contain the violence”.

Naveed Kashif, a local priest at a church in Sahiwal, said while he could not excuse Mr Shan’s post, he wondered “why the court has passed such an extreme verdict when those linked to the attacks have still not been punished.”

Blasphemy accusations are widespread in Pakistan. Under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death. While authorities have not yet carried out a death sentence for blasphemy, the accusation alone can often spark riots and incite mobs to violence, lynching and murder.

Earlier this month, 72-year-old Nazir Masih died after being attacked by an angry mob following accusations of blasphemy in May.