Posting to Facebook in Pakistan can be deadly
Creators of fake accounts accuse victims of the crime of blasphemy
A Facebook post in Pakistan can be deadly.
An angry mob tortured and killed university student Mashal Khan this month for allegedly sharing blasphemous content on Facebook about Islam and the prophet Mohammed, a charge he said was the result of a friend creating a fake Facebook account in his name.
The attack at Abdul Wali Khan University has created fear among other Facebook users.
“People are being killed for their Facebook posts. I don’t want to be killed, so I am deleting my account,” Muhammad Aslam, a shop owner in the Pakistani town of Chichawatni, wrote on Facebook last week.
In this majority-Muslim country, insulting Mohammed or Islam is a crime punishable by death. Last month, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the removal of blasphemous content online, saying anyone who posted such content would face “strict punishment under the law.”
Mufti Naeem, a religious cleric in Pakistan, said people sometimes settle personal disputes through blasphemy allegations.
“The blasphemy law is being misused in the country,” Naeem told Dawn TV.
Sabookh Syed, a journalist in Islamabad, said he changed his Facebook ID after getting death threats. “I can’t take it anymore. People were calling me an infidel and sending death threats over my posts. I thought about quitting social media,” said Syed, who now runs a news website.
After Khan’s killing, many of the 28 million Facebook users in Pakistan shared this message: “I don’t have another Facebook account and if someone sends you a request with my ID and display picture, please report to me.”
Khan, 23, had posted in December that a friend had created a fake Facebook account with his name as a malicious prank and was trying to make him look bad.
Facebook said it is reviewing content in Pakistan and taking action to ensure the safety of people using the platform. The company also said it has improved its measures against fake Facebook profiles, and a team is dedicated to blocking those accounts.
At least 65 people have been killed over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to a recent report by a Pakistani think tank, the Center for Research and Security Studies. Dozens of people convicted of blasphemy are now on death row in local jails.
Targeting people for blasphemy has grown with social media.
“I am afraid that my posts could be misinterpreted or a fake ID could be made to post something that could be termed blasphemous, resulting in violence against me,” said Babar Malik, a journalist based in Islamabad.
He said powerful people and institutions can accuse their critics of blasphemy: “They can make fake posts to level allegations and settle their scores, which is a very dangerous way of silencing the opponents.”
Some activists critical of the government or military are self-censoring on Facebook or are leaving the social platform, said Shahzad Ahmad of Byets for All, Pakistan, an organization working for digital rights.
“Cyber armies and troll forces are a gruesome reality in Pakistanis’ cyberspace,” Ahmad said. “We believe that powerful state and non-state actors are using these groups on Facebook and other social media platforms to dominate the space.”
“I can’t take it anymore. People were calling me an infidel and sending death threats over my posts.” Sabookh Syed, a journalist in Islamabad