BAHAWALPUR/LAHORE: An Anti-Terro­rism Court (ATC) in Baha­walpur on Saturday sentenced a Muslim man to death for sharing what was described as blasphemous material on social media.

Bahawalpur District Public Prosecutor Shafiq Qureshi told Dawn this was the first death sentence handed down in a case of online blasphemy.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police arrested the 30-year-old suspect of Okara on April 5 last year after a first information report was registered against him on the complaint of a sub-inspector of the Multan CTD under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Sections 9 and 11w of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

The CTD accused him of uploading blasphemous material on his Facebook page about revered religious figures.

The investigators also sought the opinion of professors of the Islamic Studies department of the Bahawalpur Islamia University who termed the content blasphemous, police said, adding that the convict was found guilty during the investigation.

ATC judge Malik Shabir Ahmad Awan handed down the death penalty under the PPC and five-year imprisonment under the ATA.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2017