MOSCOW, July 16 (RAPSI) - A court in the Punjab province of Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to life in prison and a fine of $2,000 for sending blasphemous text messages to Muslim clerics, KAI news agency reported on Monday.

Human rights activists argue that the guilt of the man, Sajjad Masih, has not been proved and that the punishment passed on him is unjustifiably severe.

According to the Pakistani Human Rights Commission, around 1,050 trials have been held in the country since 1988 on charges of defiling the Quran and defaming Prophet Muhammad.

Human rights activists say that the blasphemy law is often used to target religious minorities - Christians, Shias, Ahmadiyyas and Hindus. Last year a Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, was falsely accused of burning the Quran and forced to hide from religious extremists who planned to kill her. Although the Supreme Court eventually exonerated her, the girl and her family fled Pakistan and were granted political asylum in Canada.

The law is frequently misused for personal revenge and carries no provision to punish a false accuser or a false witness of blasphemy.