Pakistan government has sentenced Taimoor Raza to death over a series of Facebook posts.
On Saturday, Raza, 30, became the first person to receive a death sentence in a Pakistan anti-terrorism court for “using derogatory remarks, CNN reports.
Amnesty International’s Pakistan campaigner, Nadia Rahman, said, “No one one should be hauled before an anti-terrorism court or any other court solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief online.”
In January, the government shut down the websites and blogs of four online activists who regularly campaigned for humans rights and religious freedom, according to Human Rights Watch.
Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said in March “nothing can be greater than our religion to us” in stopping blasphemy on the internet.
“If social media platforms do not cooperate with us despite all our efforts, then we will take the strictest of measures against such platforms in the country,” he said.
In May, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority sent millions of citizens a text message warning them against sharing blasphemy online.
“The uploading and sharing of blasphemous content on the internet is a punishable action under the law. Such content should be reported for legal action,” the alert said.
Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram
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