ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani man has been sentenced to death for committing blasphemy on Facebook, lawyers said Saturday, the first conviction on charges arising from social media.
Judge Shabbir Ahmad Awan handed down the verdict in Bahawalpur, around 600 kilometers (372 miles) south of capital Islamabad, finding Taimoor Raza guilty of insulting the prophet Mohammed, prosecutor Shafiq Qureshi told AFP.
Raza had a Facebook argument about Islam with someone who turned out to be a counter-terrorism department official, defense lawyer Rana Fida Hussain told AFP.
The official brought charges against Raza based on the comments made on the social networking site.
Hussain said his client was innocent and that he would appeal the conviction.
Blasphemy is a sensitive charge in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where even unproven allegations can trigger mob lynchings and violence.
A 10-year-old boy was killed and five others were wounded last month when a mob attacked a police station in an attempt to lynch a Hindu man charged with blasphemy for allegedly posting an incendiary image on social media.
Millions of Pakistanis have been receiving text messages from the government warning them against sharing “blasphemous” content online, a move rights activists said would encourage more vigilante attacks.
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Pakistani gets death sentence in Facebook blasphemy case
Pakistani gets death sentence in Facebook blasphemy case
Cuba defends military drills as deterrent against US aggression
HAVANA: Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel defended his country’s military preparedness exercises on Saturday as a deterrent against potential aggression from the United States.
US President Donald Trump this month warned that Cuba “is ready to fall” and told Havana to “make a deal” or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose ousted leader Nicolas Maduro was taken to America by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.
Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off.
Diaz-Canel on Saturday supervised military exercises that included a tank unit from Cuba’s armed forces.
He was accompanied by Cuban General Alvaro Lopez Miera, who is the minister of the armed forces, and other high-ranking military officials.
“The best way to prevent aggression is for imperialism to have to calculate the price of attacking our country,” Diaz-Canel said in remarks broadcast on Cuban television.
“And that has a lot to do with our preparation for this type of military action... This takes on significant importance in the current circumstances,” he added.
Cuba’s National Defense Council, which is led by Diaz-Canel, recently met “with the objective of increasing and improving the level of preparedness and cohesion” among the country’s leadership, according to an official government statement.
The council met to “analyze and approve the plans and measures for transitioning to a State of War,” the statement added, without providing further details.
These military exercises are part of the country’s preparation “under the strategic concept of the War of the Entire People,” a term used by authorities for the mobilization of civilians in the event of armed conflict.
US President Donald Trump this month warned that Cuba “is ready to fall” and told Havana to “make a deal” or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose ousted leader Nicolas Maduro was taken to America by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.
Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off.
Diaz-Canel on Saturday supervised military exercises that included a tank unit from Cuba’s armed forces.
He was accompanied by Cuban General Alvaro Lopez Miera, who is the minister of the armed forces, and other high-ranking military officials.
“The best way to prevent aggression is for imperialism to have to calculate the price of attacking our country,” Diaz-Canel said in remarks broadcast on Cuban television.
“And that has a lot to do with our preparation for this type of military action... This takes on significant importance in the current circumstances,” he added.
Cuba’s National Defense Council, which is led by Diaz-Canel, recently met “with the objective of increasing and improving the level of preparedness and cohesion” among the country’s leadership, according to an official government statement.
The council met to “analyze and approve the plans and measures for transitioning to a State of War,” the statement added, without providing further details.
These military exercises are part of the country’s preparation “under the strategic concept of the War of the Entire People,” a term used by authorities for the mobilization of civilians in the event of armed conflict.
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