Pakistan convicts man over child pornography for first time in country's history

Sadat Amin was part of network that spread across Europe and US, investigators say

Pakistan recently brought in new laws to crack down on child sexual abuse and pornography (Getty Images)

A man in Pakistan has been jailed for seven years for child pornography offences - the first conviction of its kind in the country's history.

Sadat Amin was found guilty by a court in Sarghoda, a small city in the Punjab province, according to the district police chief Suhail Chaudhry.

During the trial, he reportedly confessed to luring children in to produce porn videos, according to prosecutors.

Mr Chaudhry said an investigation revealed that Amin was part of a child pornography network spread across parts of Europe and the US and sold pornographic videos of children to a Norway-based network.

Amin was arrested earlier this month by the Federal Investigation Agency — Pakistan's version of the FBI — following a complaint from the Norwegian government, according to Mr Chaudhry.

He was also reportedly fined 1.2 million rupees.

The ruling comes shortly after Pakistan introduced new laws to crack down on child sexual assault and child pornography after a Bill was passed by the Senate.

Both crimes now carry a maximum penalty of up to seven years in jail, whereas before, only rape was considered a criminal offence under the country’s laws.

The Bill also criminalised “exposing children to obscene and sexually explicit material”, and a number of other abusive acts.

Sexual abuse against minors has long been an issue in Pakistan.

In 2015, the country was rocked by a child sex abuse scandal involving a paedophile ring in Punjab which reportedly forced minors to take part in pornography.

It is estimated that as many as 300 children were victims.

More recently, mass protests took place earlier this year after a seven-year-old girl, Zainab Ansari, was raped and killed in eastern Punjab.

Police revealed that at least 10 other similar cases had occurred in the region throughout the previous year.

Last year, an investigation by the Associated Press revealed that sexual abuse is a pervasive and longstanding problem at madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan, but it is an issue which often goes unreported, with many victims and families afraid to speak out about the crimes.

The country is ranked second to last, coming in at number 143 out of 144 countries, in the World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.