Death Penalty News

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are among the world’s most egregious tools of religious repression. They enable abuse, mob violence, and the targeting of individuals and religious minorities (including Christians) for criminal prosecutions that carry life sentences and death penalties.  Pakistani professor Junaid Hafeez, for instance, is imprisoned and sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy. 

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are facing renewed criticism as a Christian charged in a high-profile case awaits a verdict that could carry the death penalty. The case against Ishtiaq Saleem underscores growing concerns about false blasphemy accusations by organized networks and the risks to religious minorities, according to ADF International, a Christian legal advocacy group supporting the accused’s defense through allied lawyers in Pakistan. “Blasphemy laws create a culture of violence and discrimination and must be repealed,” said Tehmina Arora, director of advocacy for Asia at ADF International, in a press statement. “Ishtiaq must be freed, and Pakistan must move toward a culture that respects and protects religious freedom for all.”

A woman was burned alive this weekend by a Muslim mob for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad, Islam's holiest figure, in Niger State, central Nigeria, police said Monday.  The woman was burned alive on Saturday in a mob attack after making remarks deemed blasphemous against the Prophet in the Kasuwan-Garba community in Mariga district, Niger State Police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said in a statement.

A review of state prison data, court records shows Tarrant County has surpassed Dallas County in the number of people awaiting execution.  Jason Alan Thornburg showed no emotion as the judge read his death sentence aloud. A few jurors, who had decided the murderous former street preacher’s fate moments ago, brushed away tears. Relatives and friends of the victims let out sighs of relief.  The scene in a crowded Fort Worth courtroom last month marked the 6th time last year that a Texas jury condemned a man to die. Four of those death sentences came from North Texas counties, including 3 — Thornburg’s among them — from Tarrant County. 

Muslims in Bangladesh are known to evade prosecution under blasphemy laws, just like Pakistan, while the draconian legislation unilaterally targets Hindus and other religious minorities. In a major development, the High Court of Bangladesh recommended strengthening the Cyber Security Act to make ‘blasphemy’ punishable by life imprisonment and death penalty in the country. “There should be a provision of punishment like death penalty or life imprisonment for such unnecessary, unconscionable, obstinate and provocative speech and conduct against the Quran and Muhammad, which the parliament may consider,” a 2-Judge Bench of Justices MR Hassan and Fahmida Quader stated.

The head of the Catholic Church in Pakistan has lambasted a court for passing the death sentence on a Christian man found guilty of blasphemy in connection with one of the worst atrocities against minorities in the country's history.  Bishop Samson Shukardin, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan, described as "very, very painful" the judgement handed down in the case of Ehsan Shan.

An enraged mob torched at least 24 Churches and 80 houses of Christian members in August last year over allegations of Quran desecration. Over 200 Muslims were arrested but none of them have been convicted so far, instead 188 of them were released on bail or lack of evidence.

The Lahore police have arrested Jamila Jacob, a Christian woman, on charges of committing blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. The arrest followed an FIR filed at the North Cantonment police station, Lahore by Asif Ali, a local shopkeeper.

Nazir Masih was under treatment in CMH Hospital for nine days and underwent two head surgeries SARGODHA: A Christian man who became a target of an angry mob in Punjab's Sargodha district over alleged blasphemy succumbed to his injuries on Monday morning, police officials said. 

A court in Pakistan has sentenced a 22-year-old student to death on charges of blasphemy over Whatsapp messages. The court in Punjab Province said he had shared blasphemous pictures and videos with the intention to outrage the religious feelings of Muslims. A 17-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment as part of the same case. Both have denied wrongdoing.

Two Christian brothers facing blasphemy charges in Pakistan were cleared, following allegations that had prompted many Muslims to riot in their neighborhood last August Two Christian brothers who were facing blasphemy charges in Muslim-majority Pakistan have been cleared of all allegations and set free, their lawyer reported March 1. The accusations against them had previously led to violent riots, with hundreds of Muslims devastating the neighborhood where they lived last August.

Men’s bodies hung on an electricity pole and later dumped in the trash as crowds call ‘traitors’ and ‘Allahu Akbar’ Members of a Palestinian armed group executed two men in the West Bank city of Tulkarem Friday night accused of collaborating with Israel, as a mob cheered them on, according to Palestinian reports. A Palestinian journalist in the camp, speaking on condition of anonymity, said residents of the camp beat and stomped on the corpses after the two were shot and killed in the streets. Videos show hundreds of Palestinians flocking to the entrance of the camp, gawking and filming with their phones as men try to hang the mutilated corpses from an electrical tower.

On Monday, October 23, the Algiers Court of Appeal sentenced thirty-eight people to the death penalty for the lynching to death of a man wrongly mistaken for an arsonist after helping to put out deadly fires during the summer 2021, according to the official Algérie Presse Service (APS) agency.  These sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment because a moratorium on the application of the death penalty has been in force in Algeria since 1993.  The lynching, which took place in the region of Kabylie (north-west), had raised a wave of indignation throughout the country.

A new report from the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom identifies 95 countries with some form of blasphemy law in effect, including five countries that impose the death penalty as the maximum sanction. A separate report from the commission records the text of the 95 laws criminalizing expressions that insult or offend religious feelings or show disrespect toward religious figures or symbols. The reports show blasphemy laws are not exclusive to any single region. They document blasphemy laws in 13 countries in the Americas, 28 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, 16 European nations, 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures can face the death penalty. A Pakistani court has handed down death sentences to four youths for committing blasphemy on social media, the country's top investigating agency said on Tuesday. Additional District Sessions Judge (Rawalpindi) Ahsan Mahmood Malik sentenced the four to death on Monday for posting blasphemous material on Facebook. 

Amidst the debris of smashed pieces of furniture, a shattered TV and broken doors, lies a twisted, mangled child’s bicycle. The sight leaves Qasir Pervez Masih teary-eyed. “My nine-year-old son loved this bicycle. He cried so much when he saw the damage,” says Masih, a resident of Jaranwala’s Christian Colony, in east Pakistan’s Punjab province. On August 16, Masih’s colony and surrounding areas, including several churches and even a cemetery, were vandalised by a Muslim vigilante group on charges of blasphemy. A human rights report said that 10,000 people hid in the nearby sugarcane fields while the mob ransacked over 20 churches and 400 homes.

ROME – In just a little over a month, the curtain will rise on a keenly anticipated Synod of Bishops on Synodality in Rome. Though notoriously difficult to define, “synodality” generally refers to the idea of the whole Church journeying together, with members listening to one another in establishing priorities and policies. To date, much of the commentary about the looming synod has focused on what “listening” might imply vis-à-vis the standard canon of contested issues in Western Catholic debate – blessing same-sex unions and the ordination of women as deacons for the left, for example, or the traditional Latin Mass and the struggle against abortion on the right.

More than 100 people have been arrested in a city in east Pakistan after thousands of Muslims burned churches and vandalised homes. Violence in Jaranwala was sparked by claims that two Christian men had torn pages from the Quran. The historic Salvation Army Church was still smouldering on Thursday, one day after the riot. Ruins have been surrounded with barbed wire as the situation remains tense in the city. Public gatherings have also been restricted for 7 days in Faisalabad district, which includes Jaranwala.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden raised its terror alert to the second-highest level on Thursday after a string of public desecrations of the Quran sparked angry demonstrations across Muslim countries and threats from militant groups. The Swedish Security Service, known as SÄPO, lifted the “terror threat level” one notch to “high,” the fourth of five levels, for the first time since 2016. The move reflects Swedish concerns that repeated Quran-burnings this year by a handful of anti-Islam activists have made the Scandinavian country a prime target for Islamic extremists.

On Sunday, a man suspected of committing robberies in Kosovo informal settlement, Cape Town, was beaten and set alight by members of the community. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A man suspected of committing robberies and other crimes around Kosovo informal settlement in Samora Machel, Cape Town, died after being beaten and set alight by community members on Sunday. Police spokesperson Joseph Swaartbooi confirmed that Samora Machel police responded to a call at 8:30am on Sunday. “Upon arrival in White Heart Lane, they found the body of an unknown male who sustained fatal injuries. The victim was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel. The motive for the attack is still to be confirmed.”