Representative image of a noose.
Credit: iStock Photo
A Pakistani court has handed down death sentences to four youths for committing blasphemy on social media, the country's top investigating agency said on Tuesday.
Additional District Sessions Judge (Rawalpindi) Ahsan Mahmood Malik sentenced the four to death on Monday for posting blasphemous material on Facebook.
Each of them has also been handed a 28-year jail term for committing blasphemy against the Quran as well, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said.
However, a fifth suspect, Usman Liaqat, was handed seven years of imprisonment.
"Muhammad Amin, Wazir Gul, Faizan Razaak, and Muhammad Rizwan, who are in their 20s, were handed death sentences by the Additional District Sessions Judge on Monday for posting blasphemous material against the Prophet on Facebook," the FIA said.
"The convicts had shared objectionable comments about the Quran on social media," it added.
The FIA said its anti-cybercrime wing had arrested the suspects last year after receiving a complaint against them from one Omar Nawaz, who alleged that they had shared blasphemous material about the Prophet and Quran on social media.
The investigation agency said the judge convicted the accused after it presented forensic evidence of their social media accounts.
In his ruling, the judge observed that "blasphemy against the Prophet and Quran are unforgivable crimes. Therefore, the accused do not deserve any concession or leniency."
Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures can face the death penalty. Often, an accusation can cause riots and incite mobs to violence, lynching and killings.