3 Men Jailed In Commie Burma For Insulting Buddhism

It's not only in Muslim countries that individuals can wind up in jail for insulting religion, in communist Myanmar fka Burma they can too.

A New Zealand bar manager and two Burmese men have all been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail for posting an ad for their bar on Facebook which was deemed insulting to Buddhism.

2 1/2 years with hard labor is outrageous.

Although the V Gastro Bar apologized for offending the overly sensitive, Phil Blackwood, the general manager, Tun Thurein, the owner, and Htut Ko Ko Lwin, the manager, were all arrested, December 2014.

Human Rights Watch responded to the sentencing:

“That these three men acted in a culturally insensitive way by posting the Buddha with headphones image on Facebook is obvious, but that is nothing they should have been hauled into court for, much less sent to prison,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

A fine, okay, whatever, but jail time?

I guess if this had been in Pakistan and someone had dared to depict Mohammed with earphones, they'd all be dead by now.

More here.