By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa
On January 18, 2022, a cybercrime court in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, sentenced 26-year-old Aneeqa Ateeq to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 200,000 ($1,132 USD), as well as death by hanging.
Her blasphemy charge was regarding illustrations that were shared on Facebook and Whatsapp. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) filed the case against Ateeq when a person by the name of Muhammad Hasnat Farooq, also a Pakistani, saw one of her posts and reported it.
Pages of chat and other documents containing the “offensive” material were presented to the court. Ateeq insisted at trial that she was tricked into a discussion about religion so the accuser could collect evidence against her after she refused “to be friendly with him.” Ateeq denied all charges and stated that she was a practicing Muslim. The FIA also seized her laptop, cell-phone, mobile SIM, memory card, router, and USB drives.
Sketches of the Prophet Mohammed were used for her WhatsApp profile photo. Aside from the illustrations, Ateeq also shared YouTube links with the plaintiff that contained “offensive” material.
Her sentencing was based on 295-C and 298-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, both of which are explicitly anti-blasphemy. Her crimes were also against Section 11 of the Anti-Cyber Crimes Act.
According to the International Institute for Religious Freedom, from 1987 to August 2021, 1,865 people have been charged under blasphemy laws in Pakistan, with a spike in 2020 when 200 cases were registered; Punjab being the worst affected with 76% of cases. At least 128 people have been mob lynched outside of the court system which have culminated in zero arrests.
