A court in Rawalpindi sentenced four men to death for posting blasphemous content online, a prosecution lawyer told AFP on Monday.

“They were sentenced to death … on Friday for spreading blasphemous content online against the Prophet Muhammad (PUBH) and the Quran,” Rao Abdur Raheem, a lawyer from the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan, a private group which brought the case to court, told AFP.

“Our case was supported by forensic evidence from the devices used in this heinous act,” he added.

According to the court order dated January 24 — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — the four individuals were sentenced to death by hanging for violating Section 295C (Use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

They were also sentenced to life in prison under 295B (defiling, etc, of the Holy Quran) and 10 years imprisonment under 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting Its religion or religious beliefs). “All the above-mentioned sentences of imprisonment shall run concurrently,” the order read.

The four were charged under sections 295A, 295B, 295C, 298A (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of holy personages) and Section 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act in October 2022, according to a first information report seen by Dawn.com.

A member of a support group formed by the families confirmed the sentence to AFP and said the group would challenge the conviction.

“The pattern of arrests and prosecutions in this case is consistent with previous ones,” said the support group member, who spoke anonymously due to security concerns.

“We urge the government to establish a commission to investigate the rise in these cases before these young individuals spend the best years of their lives behind bars.”

Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in Pakistan, where even unsubstantiated accusations can incite public outrage and lead to lynchings.

Last May, police rescued a Christian man from an enraged mob who wanted to lynch him and attacked the homes of some other members of the minority community in Sargodha on allegations of desecration of the Holy Quran.

The mob swelled and set a shoe shop owned by the Christian family on fire and tried to enter their house after damaging the walls and doors.

Sargodha District Police Officer Assad Ejaz Malhi said that 25 of the mobsters were taken into custody from the spot and they were identifying the other attackers.

Later that year, Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar, accused of sharing blasphemous posts on social media, was shot dead during a gun battle with the police in Mirpurkhas on September 19, authorities said.

According to an official order issued by the Sindh Inspector General (IG), an inquiry committee was constituted to probe two cases (FIR No. 47/2024 and 48/2024) registered at the Sindhri police station on September 19.

According to a copy of the inquiry report available with Dawn.com, the committee “unanimously” agreed that Mirpurkhas police “killed him [Dr Shahnawaz] in a managed encounter and tried to give it a legal cover but failed”.

The report recommended that the deceased’s family record a statement and file a first information report under the relevant provisions, whilst suggesting “strict departmental action” against personnel from both Umerkot and Mirpurkhas police who allegedly celebrated the killing.

Meanwhile, the country has witnessed a sharp increase in the prosecution of “online blasphemy” cases, with private vigilante groups bringing charges against hundreds of young individuals for allegedly committing blasphemy.