Five men from Rawalpindi have been given a collection of sentences that include the death penalty, life imprisonment and a combined total of one hundred years behind bars, as a result of a case filed by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The complainant behind the case alleged in an application that at least one of the accused had allegedly been sharing blasphemous content, on WhatsApp and social media, in a “clear attempt to hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims”. According to Dawn, the case was filed under the following Sections of the law:

“Sections 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 295B (defiling, etc, of [a] copy of Holy Quran) and 295C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).”

A female TikTok user has been arrested and charged with allegedly making blasphemous statements on social media. A resident of the district of Muzaffargarh, the user was accused by three other locals of using what they considered to be “offensive” language in a religious capacity in a video, which they presented as evidence to the police. The case registered against her by Muzaffargarh police were filed under Pakistan’s overly broad and controversial blasphemy laws, with the specific sections being: Sections 295-A (“Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs”), and 298-A (“Uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings”)  of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).