July 2, 2024
Staff Report
LAHORE:
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Sahiwal has sentenced a Christian boy to death for sharing an alleged blasphemous video on a social media platform.
ATC judge Ziaullah Khan handed down the death sentence to 27 years old Ehsan under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code and a 10-year jail term under Section 295-A.
The court also convicted him under Section 11 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and Section 7(1)(g) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, giving him 7-year and 5-year jail terms respectively. Sahiwal police arrested him on August 20, 2023, for allegedly sharing a video containing a letter that was central to the Jaranwala riots on his TikTok account.
The police were the complainants in Ehsan’s case, and all the prosecution witnesses were also police officials.
On August 16, 2023, a mob attacked several Christian localities in Jaranwala, ransacked over 20 churches, and destroyed more than 100 houses, following accusations of blasphemy against two Christian brothers.
The two brothers were later exonerated from blasphemy charges by the ATC in Faisalabad. According to the police report, two other men with whom they had an enmity framed the brothers.
The police registered many cases under the PPC and the Anti-Terrorism Act and arrested over 100 people for rioting in Jaranwala, but none have been convicted so far.
Ehsan, who hailed from a village near Sahiwal, worked at a brick kiln along with his family members. He received free legal aid from an NGO, Organization for Legal Aid, and was represented by advocate Khurram Shahzad.
“The letter in question had been circulating due to the Jaranwala incident, and it is a fact that Ehsan did not author it. No one witnessed him uploading the letter on his social media account,” Shahzad said.
Ehsan, in his statement recorded under Section 342 of the CrPC denied posting any blasphemous material on the social media. The police recovered Ehsan’s phone from his house, and sent it to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) for examination. The PFSA report concluded that no blasphemous material was found on the accused’s phone or TikTok account.
Shahzad argued that the alleged author of the letter was in police custody in Jaranwala, and the prosecution has provided no evidence as to how the accused came into possession of the letter three days after it was in the custody of Jaranwala city police.”
However, the court relied on the statements given by the prosecution witnesses and sentenced the youth to death.
The Christian community has criticized the verdict and termed it a “blatant misuse of blasphemy law”.
Ashiknaz Khokhar, a Sahiwal-based human rights activist, said that the increase in violence in the name of religion is due to the government’s inability to de-radicalise citizens, and the lack of political will to introduce substantial reforms in laws related to the defamation of religion. “Serious action must be taken against those involved in such violence,” he said.
Lala Daniel Robin, a Faisalabad-based minority rights activist, said that it is a mockery of justice that the state has given a death sentence to a Christian youth for allegedly sharing a letter related to the Jaranwala incident, while the cases pertaining to the destruction of churches are proceeding at a snail’s pace and many accused have been granted bail.
“The state must fulfill the promises made by the prime minister and the president after the Jaranwala incident, and ensure the early punishment of the accused. The state must also stop the misuse of blasphemy laws, as it happened in Ehsan’s case,” he added.