27 April 2025 :

A Christian man in the eastern Pakistani town of Jaranwala on April 21, 2025 was sentenced to death after being accused of desecrating the Koran, the Muslim holy book.
The 36-year-old will appeal his sentence after an anti-terrorism court convicted him of blasphemy on April 21, while acquitting two others accused of the same breach of the law.
The 2023 incident led to a series of mob attacks on a Christian neighbourhood in which hundreds of houses and churches were torched and thousands of people forced to flee their homes.
In addition to the death penalty, he was also sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 3.5 million.
The court reportedly ruled that the man attempted to frame a father and son by placing their photographs alongside torn pages from the Quran, creating the false impression that they had desecrated the holy book.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. No one has been executed by the state for it, but numerous accused have been lynched by outraged mobs.
Jaranwala was the site of more than two dozen church arsons carried out by mobs which included far-right Islamists in 2023.
On 16 August, following reports that the Koran had been desecrated by two local men, riots broke out and hundreds of men armed with sticks and rocks attacked the Christian community in the city.
Churches were also attacked, with rioters either vandalising them or setting the buildings on fire.
Rizwan Khan, the regional police chief, said that 129 people in connection with the mob violence were arrested in the immediate aftermath.
It is thought that around 380 were arrested following the riots, while the government promised to help rebuild both trust and the damaged buildings.
At the time, Pakistan's Interim Prime Minister, Anwar ul-Haq Kakar, criticized the rioters and called on them to stop the violence, saying: 'Stern action would be taken against those who violate the law and target minorities.'.
Pakistan's Blasphemy law stems from section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code.