5/30/2025 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) — Today marks two years since Noman Asghar, a Christian, received the death penalty in Pakistan for allegedly receiving images of the Prophet Muhammad, a holy figure in Islam. 

Asghar was charged with “insulting the Prophet Muhammad” after allegedly receiving images of him on the popular messaging platform, WhatsApp. At the time of his arrest in 2019, Asghar was 17 years old and was sentenced to death on May 30, 2023. 

Asghar’s cousin and fellow Christian, Sunny Mushtaq, was arrested in 2019 for the same reason, in addition to reportedly having printouts of the pictures, and was charged with the same crime. The two had been playing cricket together when the alleged crime occurred. Mushtaq has been detained in Pakistan since 2019 and is still awaiting sentencing, though the same dreaded outcome is expected in his case. Mushtaq was 19 years old at the time of his arrest. 

A Fides News report stated that “Mushtaq and Asghar received a blasphemous cartoon on their smartphones. However, that drawing was sent to them by Bilal Ahmad, a young Muslim, but the police took no action against Ahmad, who was the sender of the blasphemous image.” 

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often misused to target Christians and other religious minorities, who are considered second-class citizens. Reports of the misuse of the nation’s blasphemy laws are rampant. Accusers may level charges of blasphemy against Christians in situations where they stand to gain from a disliked Christian’s imprisonment. 

Moreover, Christians are chronically mistreated and discriminated against in Pakistan, and are often given disfavored jobs, such as street sweeping or sewer cleaning.  

According to International Christian Concern’s Global Persecution Index, “Despite years of international advocacy to overturn or soften these [blasphemy] laws, Pakistan has only doubled down on the law, with legislation to increase punishments for blasphemy passing handily in the legislature in 2023.” 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email [email protected].