Published on September 22, 2024, 12:31 am

Image source: Fox News

In a shocking development emerging out of Pakistan, Shagufta Kiran, a Christian mother of four, was sentenced to death earlier this week in adherence to the country’s controversial blasphemy laws. The ruling was delivered following Kiran’s conviction by an Islamabad court for allegedly insulting Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, which demanded an obligatory death sentence under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy legislation.

Her legal representative, Attorney Rana Abdul Hameed confirmed that on top of receiving the infamous capital punishment, Kiran was also mandated a fine of 300,000 rupees ($1,077) after undergoing a three-year trial. Kiran was initially arrested by Pakistani authorities on July 29th last year in Islamabad over accusations that she had shared blasphemous content in an online discussion group back in September 2020.

The charges against her were put forward by Shiraz Ahmed Farooqi. According to Farooqi’s filed complaint, Kiran had disrespected Muhammad via the contentious content she posted within the designated WhatsApp group. Despite vehemently maintaining her innocence and claiming that she did not author the contended material and forwarded it without any prior readings or proper understanding of its context.

While holding her profession as a nurse previously before her arrest, Kiran became part of various interfaith platforms predominantly focusing on grass-roots religious dialogues. One such forum named “Pure Discussions” was managed by Farooqi apart from two other individuals both residing outside Pakistan.

Shagufta Kiran remains optimistic about her chances in high courts while nostalgically longing to reunite with her family as quickly as possible said Rana Abdul Hameed who praised his client for her unwavering bravery throughout trying times and anticipates moving against the judgment once detailed orders are officially issued by the court.

Hameed attributed most uncompromising rulings and upward trends in forced blasphemy convictions at trial courts largely to mounting pressures from Islamic fundamentalist groups and anticipated mob violence. He held the belief that a thorough analysis of blasphemy cases would reveal subsequent retractions of such verdicts by superior courts more often.

The Center for Social Justice (CSJ) estimates that since 1987, blasphemy laws have been employed on close to 3,000 individuals and speculates that this statistic could potentially be threefold or even quadruple if every instance was fully reported.

Last year reportedly saw hundreds of people incarcerated under blasphemy charges across Pakistan. Punjab province alone had 552 suspects detained, and at least seven individuals were brutally killed by either single-party offenders or virulent mobs from the start of this year according to CSJ’s annual report which also indicated rising trends in new blasphemy accusations where allegations were labeled on an additional 103 people in just the first half of this year alone.

Human rights watchdog Open Doors has persistently reported Pakistan as one of the most challenging countries for Christians, indicating it at 7th place on its latest annual global list underscoring Christian persecution worldwide. This real news solidifies concerns around religious freedom while highlighting untold stories of enduring resilience like Shagufta Kiran’s against a backdrop fraught with hardship, especially when viewed through a Christian worldview.