A mother of four has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for sharing allegedly blasphemous messages on WhatsApp.

Legal advocates, supported by the leading Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), have vowed to appeal the conviction.

Former nurse Shagufta Kiran, 40, received the death sentence on 18 September from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) court in Islamabad. She was also fined 300,000 Pakistani Rupees (more than €960).

The sentencing came more than three years after FIA representatives stormed her home in Rawalpindi and arrested her, acting on a complaint that alleged she had shared comments in a WhatsApp discussion group that were disrespectful to Islam’s Prophet Mohammad.