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

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — A court in Pakistan has sentenced a Christian to death for allegedly spreading hateful content against Muslims on social media after one of the worst mob attacks on Christians in the eastern province of Punjab last year, his lawyer said on Monday, adding that he would appeal the verdict.

In August 2023, groups of Muslim men burned down dozens of houses 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 Koran, 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 told the Associated Press on Monday. He also said he would appeal the death sentence handed down on Saturday by a court in the town of Sahiwal in Punjab province.

Amir Farooq, a police officer who arrested 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 he could not excuse Shan’s post but wondered “why the court has made such a drastic ruling 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.

On June 3 72-year-old Nazir Masih has died after he was attacked by an angry mob in May following accusations of blasphemy.