MULTAN: A Pakistani court Saturday sentenced four people to death for blasphemy, allegedly because they posted sacrilegious material on social media about Islamic religious figures and the Holy Qur’an. Their lawyer said appeal preparations are underway.
Under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or its religious figures can be sentenced to death. Authorities have yet to carry out such a penalty, although the accusation of blasphemy and opposition to the law can incite mob violence or reprisals.
Judge Tariq Ayub in the city of Rawalpindi declared that blasphemy, disrespect to holy figures, and desecration of the Holy Qur’an were unforgivable offenses and left no room for leniency.
Along with the death sentences, the judge imposed collective fines of 4.6 million rupees (around $16,500) and handed down jail terms to each of the four should a higher court overturn their death sentences.
The men’s lawyer, Manzoor Rahmani, criticized the court’s decision and investigating authorities’ lack of evidence.
“The doubts and uncertainties that arise in such cases are ignored by the courts, likely due to the fear of religious backlash and potential mob violence against the judge if the accused is acquitted,” said Rahmani.
“We are preparing our appeals against the decision and will go to the High Court.”
Anti-blasphemy measures introduced in Pakistan in the 1980s made it illegal to insult Islam.
Since then, people have been accused of insulting the religion, desecrating its texts, or writing offensive remarks on the walls of mosques. Critics of the law say it is used to settle personal disputes.

PORT SUDAN: A drone attack on one of the last functioning hospitals in El-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region killed 30 people and injured dozens, a medical source said Saturday.
The bombing of the Saudi Hospital on Friday evening “led to the destruction” of the hospital’s emergency building, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation.
It was not immediately clear which of Sudan’s warring sides had launched the attack.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have seized nearly the entire vast western region of Darfur.
They have besieged El-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, since May, but have not managed to claim the city, where army-aligned militias have repeatedly pushed them back.
Last week, they issued an ultimatum demanding army forces and allies leave the city by Wednesday afternoon in advance of an expected offensive.
Local activists have reported intermittent fighting since, including repeated artillery fire from the RSF on the famine-hit Abu Shouk displacement camp.
On Friday morning alone, heavy shelling killed eight people in the camp, according to civil society group the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees.
The United Nations has voiced alarm, calling on both parties to ensure the protection of the city’s civilian population — some two million people.
“The people of El-Fasher have suffered so much already from many months of senseless violence and brutal violations and abuses, particularly in the course of the prolonged siege of their city,” United Nations rights office spokesman Seif Magango said Wednesday.