ISLAMABAD: A court has sentenced five men to death for posting blasphemous content online, a prosecution lawyer told AFP on Wednesday, as the country witnesses a sharp increase in such cases.

Private groups have brought charges against hundreds of young individuals in recent years for allegedly committing blasphemy online.

“All five accused were sentenced to death for spreading blasphemous content against the holy Prophet (PBUH),” a lawyer from the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan, a private group which brought the case to court, told AFP.