A Pakistani court has sentenced a Muslim woman, Salma Tanveer, to death for blasphemy.

She was sentenced Tuesday for writings deemed derogatory to the Islamic Prophet Muhammad under the country’s blasphemy laws.

A district court in the Eastern city of Lahore said it found Ms Tanveer guilty of writing and distributing writings deemed derogatory in respect of the prophet.

The case was registered against the woman in 2013 on the complaint of a local prayer leader for allegedly claiming herself a prophet.

Defence lawyer, Mian Muhammad Ramzan, said the accused was not of sound mind when the incident occurred, adding that the pamphlets were not written by her.

The defence counsel further argued that the comparison of writing from photocopies was not possible as tampering had been made in the photocopies of the alleged documents.

The woman has the right to file an appeal against the decision before the Lahore High Court.

“Blasphemy is a sensitive topic in Pakistan. Those accused can become the targets of Muslim vigilante groups. In some cases, they have been gunned down, burnt alive or bludgeoned to death,” Mr Ramzan said.

In 2020, a Pakistani-American man who belonged to the Ahmadiyya faith was shot and killed inside a courtroom during his trial under Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

Hardline Islamists staged massive protests against the 2018 acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was given a death sentence in 2010 on allegation of blasphemy.

Ms Bibi’s case attracted global attention and led to the killing in 2011 of the then-Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who sought to reform blasphemy laws.