Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A Pakistani court has sentenced a 26-year-old woman to death for sending messages deemed to be blasphemous over WhatsApp and Facebook.
Aneeqa Ateeq was convicted under the country's strict blasphemy, which carries a mandatory death sentence.
According to court documents, she shared images considered to be insulting to the Prophet Muhammad and one of his wives with a man she met online in 2019 through a mobile gaming app, The Guardian reported.
The accuser, Hasnat Farooq, said she shared caricatures in a way that "deliberately and intentionally defiles sacred righteous personalities and insulted the religious beliefs of Muslims," the charge sheet read.
Ateeq pleaded not guilty to the charges, accusing Farooq of taking revenge on her because she refused "to be friendly" with him. She said he drew her into a religious discuss with him to frame her.
"So I feel that he intentionally dragged into this topic for revenge, that's why he ... registered a case against me and during [the WhatsApp] chat he collected everything that went against me," Ateeq said in a statement.
Al Jazeera reported the Lahore High Court must confirm Ateeq's death sentence.
