According to reports, a Pakistani court sentenced a woman to death after she sent her estranged friend blasphemous messages. Anika Attique was found guilty by a court in Rawalpindi on Wednesday after a complaint was lodged against her by Farooq Hassanat in 2020. Nikita Attique has been charged with blasphemy and defamation of Islam, the news agency PTI reported Wednesday.
There were reports that Anika and Farooq were friends, but eventually, differences erupted between the two, after which Anika sent him ‘blasphemous’ messages via WhatsApp. The Guardian reported that Anika allegedly sent him blasphemous caricatures of holy prophets and made remarks about ‘holy personages’ on WhatsApp.
Anikka was also accused of using her Facebook account to post blasphemous material to other accounts, the report stated, quoting the charge sheet as saying she ‘deliberately and intentionally defiles sacred righteous personalities and insults the religious beliefs of Muslims’. Anika refused Farooq’s request to delete the messages and apologize for her actions. In response, Farooq filed a complaint against her with the cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
As a result of the investigation, a criminal case has been filed. Anika was later arrested for further investigation and prosecution. Anika, however, denied all charges. The court report stated that she thought the complainant intentionally dragged her into a religious discussion in order to collect evidence and take revenge after she refused to be friendly with him.
The blasphemy laws of Pakistan were enacted under former military dictator Ziaul Haq in the 1980s. No one has been executed under these laws, but several people have been killed on the suspicion of blasphemy. Last year, a Sri Lankan worker at a factory in Sialkot was lynched by mobs after being accused of blasphemy.
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