Issuance of death sentence to Christian citizen "Shagofteh Kiyran" on charges of insulting Islam

Shagufta Kairani, a Christian citizen in Pakistan, was sentenced to death on charges of insulting the sanctities of Islam.

"Shagofteh Kiran" is a Christian citizen from Pakistan who has been sued by a person named "Shiraz Ahmad Farooqi". He claims that Shagofteh posted an offensive message about the sanctities of Muslims, but the Christian citizen, while denying these allegations, said that he did not write the text in question and sent it to a WhatsApp group without even reading it.

Shagofteh Kieran is a nurse who was a member of several interfaith WhatsApp groups. In these groups, she preached the gospel and the word of God to Muslims and defended her Christian faith. Shiraz Ahmad Farooqi, who sued her, ran one of these groups called Pure Discussions. It is worth noting that this message published by Shagofteh was made four years ago and her trial has lasted for more than three years.

Shagofteh, 30, a mother of four, was sentenced to death by the Islamabad High Court on Thursday, September 19. Her lawyer, Rana Abdul Hamid, said she would appeal the verdict and asked the president to pardon her client.

Human rights defenders in Pakistan say the penal code for "insulting the Prophet Muhammad" is used mostly against non-Muslim religious minorities. The majority of Pakistan's population is Muslim, and blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in the country, and just one accusation or insult to the sanctities of Islam can lead to the killing of people by Islamists.