Two Pakistani women have been sentenced to death for murdering their Madrassa teacher who they accuse of blasphemy.
Police say the women, aged 23 and 24, plus another female madrassa student killed their local female cleric by slaughtering her over blasphemy allegations in Dera Ismail Khan city in March 2022.
A local police official named Muhammad Haris told AFP that a district judge — after ascertaining the involvement in the murder — handed down the death penalty to two of the madrassa students, and a life sentence to the third one, who is 16 years.
According to the police, the three, Razia Hanifa, Ayesha Noman, and Umra Aman Hanifa, intercepted their 18-year-old teacher as she arrived at Madrasa, holding her at gunpoint before brutally slaughtering her.
Death penalty is allowed in Pakistan and courts regularly hand down the sentence- but there has been no executions since 2020.
In Muslim-majority Pakistan, accusations of blasphemy ignite intense reactions, with even unverified claims of insulting Islam leading to deadly vigilantism.
