Pakistan Wants U.N. Campaign To Counter Religious Defamation

Imran Khan, who used to be a cricket player and philanthropist but is now Pakistan's 22nd Prime Minister, seems to have his heart set on dragging the rest of the world into Pakistan's blasphemy hell. Pakistan still has barbaric blasphemy laws with the death penalty as punishment. And if the country's laws don't get you, vigilante hard-line Muslims will. Politicians have been killed for trying to bring Pakistan into the 21st century. In 2011, Punjabi governor Salmaan Taseer was murdered by his bodyguard for speaking out against blasphemy laws. His killer was hailed a hero. Now his son is a target of Islamists. And all it takes is for someone with a grudge to claim you have blasphemed. Mobs have taken the law into their own hands before it even gets to the court, like this poor Christian couple who were beaten to death for allegedly desecrating a Quran.

Khan now wants the U.N. to institute a global initiative against defaming religions. We know that really means Islam.

Speaking at the Eighth Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilization, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, said the premier had made a major announcement to counter Islamophobia and incitement to hatred being witnessed in some parts of the world.

“Hate narratives are spreading in several parts of the world; Islamophobia is on the rise and diversity is being seen not as a source of enrichment but as a threat, and politics of fear seem to be replacing politics of hope,” she asserted

So basically this post would be subject to whatever initiative they came up with. In other words, criticisim of blasphemy laws could get people in trouble.

Scary times ahead.

More on Tribune.pk

Pakistani Christian Woman Asia Bibi Still Waiting For Verdict On Final Death Penalty Appeal

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who has been rotting away in jail on Death Row since 2010 for blasphemy, will soon find out if the Islamist fanatics of that country will get their wish. Unbelievably, death for blaspheming Prophet Mohammad is still part of Pakistan's penal code.

Back in 2009 Bibi was working in the fields picking berries when an argument ensued after her Muslim coworkers took offense when she allegedly drank water from the same container. Or handled the bowl. Or something. Stories differ, so who knows what the actual truth is. But after the quarrel, the Muslim women ran to the local cleric claiming Bibi had blasphemed. Whether she did or not is irrelevant, it's a barbaric practice that should be abolished but continues to this day. In fact, hardliners are calling for stricter enforcement of the law.

 Over the past 8 years there have been a series of appeals all of which have failed. This was the final one, and though the Supreme Court has actually made a decision, they are waiting to announce the verdict. This could be good news, but considering the hardliners are gaining numbers, I tend to think it's not. According to the DailyMail:

On Wednesday Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a hardline religious political party -- which had a strong showing in nationwide elections earlier this year -- said in a press conference aired via YouTube that if she was freed the justices responsible would meet a "horrible" end.

That's not just an idle threat, people have been assassinated for trying to reform that part of Pakistani  law. And more often than not, angry mobs take the law into their own hands. Back in 2014 I wrote about a Pakistani Christian husband and wife who were beaten to death and then burned for allegedly desecrating a Quran. And a governor back in 2011 was killed for opposing the law and supporting Bibi.

There are some in Pakistan who believe that the blasphemy law needs to go the way of the dinosaurs, but few have the courage to lobby for change because they could wind up dead. That's what happened to Salmaan Taseer in 2011. The politician and businessman, who was governor of Punjab at the time, was murdered by Mumtaz Qadri, one of his bodyguards, because Taseer was very vocal about his opposition to the blasphemy law. Taseer was also asking for a pardon for Aasia Bibi. He was shot 27 times with a sub-machine gun. And who was considered the hero? Qadri. He even got a mosque named after him. In a middle-class neighbourhood, to boot.

She could ask the President for clemency, but there's no way she could remain in the country. She and her family would be sitting targets, but the hardliners are trying to prevent her from leaving.

Separately on Wednesday, a former spokesman for Islamabad's notorious Red Mosque moved to prevent Bibi from leaving the country by petitioning the capital's High Court to put her on the no-fly list.

Hard to believe that in the 21st century there are brutal, inhumane laws that still exist, supported by blood-lusting religious fanatics.

Read more at Christian Post, and News18.

Woman In France Fined For Saying "Islam Is Crap"

According to this woman in Belfort, France, she has been fined 3,000 Euro (1,500 suspended) for 'blasphemy' for saying "Islam is crap."

Here is her video describing what happened and an appeal for funds to appeal the conviction.

Gates of Vienna has more on Christine Tasine. It appears the counter-jihad activist had a confrontation with a Muslim, when she told him how she felt about Islam, which led to a trial and conviction.

Unbelievable.

Kill 'Pussy Riot' Members In Russian Orthodox Video Game

Apparently the Russian Orthodox (Christian) Church wants more young ones attending services, so on July 11- at a church youth festival- it debuted a new video game aimed at getting more of them involved.  It's called "Don't Let Pussy Riot Enter Into The Cathedral", and the kids get to "kill" the feminist anti-Putin punk rockers with a cross before they can enter a church. Kill?  What's wrong with this picture.

Two of the three arrested members of Pussy Riot- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23 and Maria Alyokhina, 25-  are still serving their two year jail sentence for offending the "religious feelings of believers" after barging into an Orthodox church last year and singing a song asking the Virgin Mary to help get rid of Vladimir Putin. This offended enough people to warrant a two year prison term! Unbelievable. 30-year-old Yekaterina Samutsevich was released.

You can play the game on RFE/RL here.  But turn off your sound, because the song that got the three of them arrested and then jailed- "Punk Prayer For Putin" - accompanies the video game, and it's pretty painful.

Bangladeshi Protesters Want Blasphemy Laws For Bloggers- Protest In Streets

Muslim-majority Bangladesh is primarily a secular nation that adheres mostly to English laws. It's a parliamentary democracy and a unitary state, but thousands upon thousands of citizens want to change back to a caretaker government (which they had in 2007), and establish blasphemy laws, like their brothers in Pakistan. They want that because there's a bunch of 'atheist bloggers who insulted Islam' they would like punished. So, those thousands upon thousands took to the streets of Dhaka after Friday prayers to make their demands known.

Members of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh are demanding the arrest of 'atheist bloggers who insulted Islam' and to pass laws punishing those who 'insulted Islam in the parliament'. They have announced plans to 'lay siege' to the office of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 25 if their demands are not met.

They include the restoration of the phrase 'absolute trust and faith upon Almighty Allah' in basic principles of the constitution; passing laws to punish atheists; holding of national elections under an impartial government; ensuring good governance and justice, uprooting terrorism and corruption; and establishing Islamic rule for a prosperous and welfare state.

The rest on UK DailyMail

The uber-religious in that country have already taken matters into their own hands when they hacked to death in February anti-Islamist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider. The same people torched a slew of Buddhist temples and destroyed about 15 Buddhist-owned houses over a photo of a desecrated Quran on the Facebook page of a local Buddhist boy, even though he claimed someone else posted it on his timeline. The same stupid people who went on strike in Bangladesh over the "Innocence of Muslims" film and the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, as though their country had anything to do with either.

But if you look at this photo- yes, those are hordes of people- it doesn't bode well for Bangladesh.

Pakistani Mob Burn Down Dozens Of Christian Houses Over Blasphemy Accusation

In Pakistan where blasphemy laws reign supreme, and all it takes is an unfounded accusation to spark an uproar, Pakistanis (who seem to easily bear grudges), took to the streets, once again, causing the usual havoc and destruction.

This time, a Christian man was falsely accused of blasphemy by a young Muslim man, and in order to appease the angry mob police arrested and charged him under Section 295-C.  The mob then headed on over to a predominately Christian enclave in Lahore (Joseph Colony) where they proceeded to torch dozens of houses.

The story goes:

The Christian, Sawan Masih, and the Muslim guy apparently got into a fight at a bar where they both had been drinking the night before. In retaliation, the Muslim accused Masih of insulting the Prophet, something that happens quite often, and has- at times- ended in the death of the accused blasphemers at the hands of vigilantes. In this case, after the mob made their way to Masih's house and the young man was taken away by the police, neighbours locked up their homes and went to stay with relatives elsewhere. That's when the destruction of 150 or so houses and two churches (including the burning of Bibles and crosses) began. They'd like us to believe that they don't burn Bibles, but that's not quite the truth.

According to Akram Gill, a local bishop, mostly poor people were living there, and they have been left with virtually nothing. An AP reporter witnessed massive destruction  of personal property.

One man was seen carrying a dog and some puppies from a burning house. Refrigerators, washing and sewing machines, cooking pots, beds and other household goods were ripped from homes, smashed and burned in the streets.

"They have burnt each and every thing in my whole house. Nothing is left here. I don't know why this happened," said Samina Riaz. "Now we don't have even enough to eat."

Although Christians are most often the targets when it comes to accusations of blasphemy, Muslims have also been accused. But it's only with the Christians that angry mobs bother to target the whole community, as opposed to just the individual. As for motive? Zohra Yusuf of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said:

"Most of the time there are other motives involved," she said, such as scaring off Christian residents to grab their property.

Or other personal grudges.

Officials have said they will make arrests, but nothing will come of it. It never does. Remember the imam who falsely accused the young Christian girl of desecrating the Quran? Released.

One shining light in the darkness that is Pakistan:

One Christian couple from the neighborhood said they went to their Muslim neighbors' house on Friday night after people came looking for the Christian man accused of blasphemy. Ishaq Masih said the Muslim neighbors sheltered the couple for the night and then gave them money to leave the area in the morning.

Sources: Dawn, AJC

Ahmadi Muslims Charged With Blasphemy In Pakistan

Four Ahmadis are being charged with blasphemy for publishing books about their Ahmadiyah faith, because even though they are Muslims, they're not the right kind of Muslims. Ahmadis are as persecuted as Christians and Hindus in Pakistan (and elsewhere) because some of their beliefs diverge from mainstream Islam.

Moeed Ayaz, Asmatullah, Razaullah and Ghulamullah, employees of Black Arrow Printing Press, were arrested on January 7 as they loaded a small truck with thousands of books and CDs. The four accused are Ahmadis. Arrest warrants have been issued for the printing press’s owner, who is at large.

The lawyer for the accused, in their post-arrest bail pleas, said that local police had acted illegally against his clients as they had arrested them on the basis of a call made to 15 before an FIR had been registered, as was evident from the statement of the complainant.

He said that even if the complaint were true, his clients should have been charged under Sections 6 (literal distortion of ayah text), 7 (translation or interpretation of Holy Quran contrary to belief of Muslims) and 9 (penalty) of the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) Act of 2011 – which carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison – rather than Sections 295B (defiling the Holy Quran) and 298C (an Ahmadi calling himself a Muslim or preaching his faith) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

At their remand hearing before a magistrate, Advocate Chaudhry Ghulam Mustafa, the lawyer for the complainant, contended that the accused were planning to distribute the “blasphemous literature” in various markets. The magistrate remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Muhammad Tayyab. Islampura police confiscated the material and truck and registered a case against the men on January 7 under Sections 295B and 298C of the PPC, as well as Section 24A of the Press and Publications Ordinance, though the ordinance was repealed in 2002.

Advocate Mustafa, the lawyer for the complainant, told The Express Tribune that his client, who lived in the same area as the printing press, had heard about the material being published and called the police when he saw books being loaded into a truck there on January 7.

He said that he had filed an application with the magistrate seeking the inclusion of Section 295C (making derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet (pbuh)) of the PPC – which is punishable by death in the charges against the accused. On his application, the magistrate had ordered the investigation officer to proceed in accordance with the law.

Unbelievable in this day and age.

Pakistan Ambassador To U.S. Faces Blasphemy Charges

Here's a good one. Some man in Pakistan is trying to get the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States- Sherry Rehman- charged with blasphemy because she wants the death penalty removed from the blasphemy laws. Faheem Akhtar Gill took his petition all the way to the Supreme Court where he has finally gotten some traction. The Asian Human Rights Commission has a petition and the following information regarding the case:

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its effort to gain popularity with the fundamentalists, has admitted a petition filed against Islamabad's ambassador to the United States of America for committing blasphemy by demanding the withdrawal of the death sentence from the blasphemy laws. The petition was filed by a business man from Multan, Punjab province. Mr. Faheem Akhtar Gill was infuriated after watching an interview of Mrs. Rehman and tried to lodge a case against her for committing blasphemy with the police. When, initially the police refused to accept the case he filed cases on different occasions in a session court and then finally in the High Court of Punjab where the honourable judges also rejected his plea to book Rehman. However the Supreme Court (SC) has taken up Gill's petition against Rehman for regular hearing and asked the police to conduct enquiries into the charges of her having committing blasphemy and report back to the Supreme Court. This creates doubts that the Supreme Court is, in fact, trying to influence the police to 'find' something against another ambassador to the USA.

There was no outcry within the country against Ambassador Rehman with regard to her comments but the Supreme Court without any concrete evidence has taken up the petition for hearing and again transferred it to the police for enquiry. In the initial stage the police already rejected the application of the petitioner as they did not find any concrete evidence of her having committed blasphemy. The question begs to be asked that if the police did not find any evidence before how it might be possible that it suddenly exists now.

Read the rest here, with a link to the petition.

Indonesian Man Gets 5 Years For Insulting Islam On Facebook

Four years in prison wasn't enough for Sebastian Joe's blasphemy conviction, the West Javan Bandung High Court decided to add another year to the Ciamis District Court's, just for good measure.

The high court decided on Tuesday to give Sebastian a higher sentence as it used the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE) Law as a lex specialis (special law), instead of the Criminal Code (KUHP) used by the district court, said Sebastian’s lawyer, Anang Fitriana, as quoted by tempo.co on Wednesday.

Apparently someone from the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) snitched on him when he wrote something on his Facebook page which was deemed insulting to Islam.

You can't find much information on the case, but someone commenting on the Jakarta Post article says he believes the status post that got Joe in trouble was:

 "Tuhan pelit dan sombong", meaning "God is mean and arrogant."

That deserved 5 years in jail?

Pakistan Mob Burns To Death Man Accused Of Desecrating Quran

Because a book has more value than a human life: some 200 hundred enraged vigilante Pakistanis burned a man alive (after they had already beaten him and dragged him to the police station) because they believe he had desecrated a Quran. They didn't even have proof that he did it, because no-one actually saw him burn the book.

The man was a traveler and had spent Thursday night at the mosque, said Maulvi Memon, the imam in the southern village of Seeta in Sindh province. The charred remains of the Koran were found the next morning.

"He was alone in the mosque during the night," Memon said. "There was no one else there to do this terrible thing."

Villagers beat the man then handed him over to police. A few hours later, a crowd of around 200 stormed the police station, dragged the man out and set him on fire, said Usman Ghani, the senior superintendent of police in Dadu district.

Ghani said around 30 people had been arrested for the murder and seven police detained for negligence.

Why would a man be stupid enough to burn a Quran in the mosque he is taking refuge in for the night? But of course that didn't factor into the equation, because it was probably just a handy excuse to murder this man, for whatever reason.

All because of Pakistan's blasphemy laws which aren't going away any time soon. Just lobbying to change those laws can you get you killed.

In the past two years, two senior Pakistani officials who suggested reforming the laws have been shot dead, one by his own bodyguard. Lawyers threw rose petals at the killer and the judge who convicted him was forced to flee the country.

Ignorance and a religion that fosters anger. A toxic combination.

The Dutch Ditch 1930s Blasphemy Law

It's hard to believe that there are still a slew of Western countries that still have blasphemy laws in their penal codes. Those laws don't belong in modern, free societies. It's not up to the court systems to punish people who blaspheme, that's up to the individual and his/her God, if they are believers. The West is not Pakistan (or any other Shariah compliant nation) with draconian, backward laws. This is the 21st century, and we need to start acting as if we live in a modern world.

At least the Dutch are on the right track. After a decade of trying, they've finally trashed their blasphemy law which was still on the books since the 1930s, though it had not used for fifty some odd years. Ironically, it was the conservative and far right parties in the Netherlands that wanted the law to remain intact. Their loss in the general elections this past September is credited for facilitating the lifting of the ban, along with Geert Wilders trial last year. According to Marc Veldt, of the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, says:

... the move to lift the ban on blasphemy was also an indirect result of the legal case involving anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders. In June 2011, a Dutch court ruled that Wilders had the right to criticize Islam, even though his opinions insulted many Muslims.

Wilders, who leads the Freedom Party, had described Islam as "fascist" and compared Islam's holy book, the Koran, to Adolf Hitler's autobiography and political manifesto "Mein Kampf." Amsterdam judge Marcel van Oosten said Wilders' statements were directed at Islam and not at Muslims. Van Oosten said the statements were "gross and denigrating" but still "acceptable within the context of public debate."

Wilders said at the time that the verdict was "not only an acquittal for me, but a victory for freedom of expression in the Netherlands."

The Netherlands still retains hate speech laws, however, and some Western countries have replaced old (Christian) blasphemy laws with revamped versions, like England with its law "against incitement to religious hatred."  Ireland took it one step further:

Ireland introduced a new law in 2010 that makes blasphemy a crime punishable by a fine of up to 25,000 euros ($32,485). The Irish law defines blasphemy as "publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defenses permitted."

That's a hefty fine, and if Ireland has any similar organization to the U.S. Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), anyone critical of Islam better watch out.

Many are advocating getting rid of all blasphemy laws, with good reason.  Padraig Reidy of London-based "Index on Censorship" says:

... blasphemy laws are no longer relevant in the 21st century. He says there is no place for a law defending religion, which he calls an "ideal." He says it should be people who have rights, not ideals.

"There's no question that blasphemy laws are a severe restriction on free speech. Any push back against blasphemy laws -- [against the notion that ideas] should be protected -- is a good thing. It's very important that blasphemy laws should be repealed," Reidy says.

On the other hand you have the Organization of Islamic  Cooperation (OIC) pushing for a global blasphemy law, because they have no clue about the notion of free speech.

If we want to ensure that those of us who are critical of radical Islam, or any religion for that matter, continue to have the freedom to do so, then we need to make sure that every Western country that still has blasphemy laws on the books throws them out.  And we must fight any organizations or special interest groups that try to make criticism of a religion a crime. There is a difference between criticism and inciting to religious hatred.  Blasphemy laws belong in another century, not this one.

Pakistani Man Sentenced To Death For Blasphemy

They love their Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan, even though most of the accusations are simply a way of getting back at someone you have a grudge against.  You'd think they'd learn after they discovered that the cleric who accused  a young 14-year-old Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, of burning the pages of a Quran, was actually the one who framed her by planting evidence. But they've now fined and sentenced to 10 years in prison, plus death, 25-year-old Hazrat Ali Shah who was accused by fellow villagers  of  blaspheming Mohammed after an argument in early 2011.

According to prosecutors, Hazrat Ali Shah uttered something blasphemous against the Holy Prophet (pbuh) in March 2011 in his village of Barenis, which was testified by many villagers.

Police registered a case under Sections 295 –(a), (b) and (c) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The convicted man allegedly stood on the roof of his house and spoke loudly and inappropriately against the Prophet (pbuh) about one and a half year ago, creating a tense situation in the village, after which police arrested him and lodged a case.

A Christian woman, Aasia Bibi (aka Aasia Noreen), is also on death row after she too was accused of blasphemy in 2010.  She's still waiting on appeals.

What a shameful, pathetic law.

Sources; Tribune, Dawn

No Blasphemy Law For Tunisia's New Constitution

Tunisia might be ruled by a majority Islamist parliament now, but they're not getting they're blasphemy law written into the new constitution, at least for now. That's one for the good guys.

Mustapha Ben Jaafar, the speaker of the National Constituent Assembly said:

“There will certainly be no criminalization."

“That is not because we have agreed to (allow) attacks on the sacred, but because the sacred is something very, very difficult to define.”

That means no long prison terms for someone accused of blasphemy. Or death, if you happen to live in Pakistan.

However, you can bet the Islamists will continue to attempt to Islamize Tunisia, a once secular country under dictator Ben Ali, but the secularists will fight back. In fact, the media and secularists have been instrumental in ensuring that the blasphemy clause does not make it into the constitution. Surprisingly, Ennahda has agreed to it. Surprising, because it has strongly advocated a global ban on blaspheming, ramped up after the violent protests in response to the anti-Islam film.

Jaafar, whose leftist party Ettakatol is part of the ruling coalition said:

“Sometimes we hold talks within the troika (three-party ruling coalition) and we feel that they (Ennahda) are prepared to let their opinions develop, to move the lines a bit.”

Jaafar, a strong proponent of freedom of expression said:

“There is a fundamental achievement of the revolution that should never be called into question, and that no one should be able to challenge, which is the freedom of expression and of the press.”

I wish them luck fending off the creeping Islamization of their country.

Egyptian Cleric Who Burned Bible In Front Of U.S. Embassy Faces Blasphemy Charges

At least Egypt isn't just targeting non-Muslims for blaspheming against Islam, they nabbed an uber-conservative cleric Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud Abdallah, aka Sheikh Abu Islam, in Cairo for ripping up  some New Testament bibles and then burning them in front of the U.S. Embassy. Little does he realize, fool that he is, that although some might find his actions offensive, unlike them, we aren't going to take to the streets in violent rage and tear down and burn Egyptian flags at Egyptian embassies and consulates around the world.  That's the difference between them and us: we don't fly off the handle at religious slights, and what we consider as 'freedom of expression', right or wrong, offensive or not, they consider blasphemy. Unlike the Egyptian government calling for the arrest of Florida Pastor Terry Jones and several Coptic Christians who either were involved with or promoted (like Jones) the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims", we're not about to issue an arrest warrant for Abu Islam.

Abu Islam- who co-owns Al Uma, a private Islamic TV station along with his ultra-conservative son- could face blasphemy charges against Christianity, something that rarely happens in that country.  The case goes to trial on September 30.

I'm sure Morsi couldn't care less that a bible was ripped up and burned, this isn't the first time it's happened, he's just trying to show the West that arresting blasphemers is the way to go,  which is probably what he wants us to do with all those involved in the "Innocence of Muslims" film.  But that isn't going to happen.

Pakistani Accused Of Blasphemy For Not Joining Anti-Islam Film Protests

Pakistan loves its blasphemy laws. It's man's best friend over there. Got a gripe or a bone to pick with someone? Your barber gave you a bad haircut? Just accuse them of blasphemy, that'll settle the score. And Pakistanis took full advantage of that during the latest anti-Islam movie protests. Naturally, they took the streets, just like all their buddies over in the Middle East, and Africa, and Australia, and a bunch of other places- nothing like a good rage-induced protest, after all. Egypt and Libya beat them to it, but they eventually packed the streets across Pakistan.

Not everyone jumped on the rage-boy bandwagon, however. There were some who refused to participate, like businessman Haji Nasrullah Khan. He owns about 120 stores, and refused to close up shop after protesters tried to force him to during Saturday's protest in Hyderabad. An argument ensued which then prompted some to accuse him of blasphemy. According to police officer Muneer Abbasi, a  police report was filed, and now Khan and his kin are in hiding.

The protesters claimed Khan insulted the Prophet while arguing with them, said city police chief Fareed Jan. But he said there was no evidence to suggest the insults really occurred and that police only opened a blasphemy case because they were pressured by the mob.

Opening such a case doesn't mean the person is necessarily charged with the crime but that police are investigating him or her.

Protesters ransacked Khan's house, and surrounded a police station, refusing to go away until officials opened a blasphemy case, Abbasi said.

The situation became even more inflamed when religious leaders from one of the biggest mosques in the city issued an edict calling for Khan's death and announced from the mosque's loudspeakers that he should be killed, Abbasi said.

The police officer said Khan and his family members had gone into hiding in fear for their lives.

 As for the blasphemy accusations against Khan? Abbasi thinks it had more to do with unhappy shopkeepers who Khan was trying to evict for late rental payment than righteous indignation about the film and his refusal to join them in their anger-fest.

Some have tried to lobby to repeal those barbaric blasphemy laws, but they usually wind up dead:

Last year, a minister and a governor were assassinated when they spoke out about misuse of the laws and suggested changing them. The governor was shot and killed by his own guard.

Rights activists and critics of the laws had hoped that the recent case of a 14-year-old girl charged with insulting the Quran would help bring about changes in the laws, or at least help curb abuse.

The case gained widespread attention and sympathy both in Pakistan and internationally due to her young age and questions about her mental capacity.

She was granted bail after a religious cleric was accused of planting evidence to incriminate her, and her lawyers have said they will move to throw the case out entirely.

And  those mobs, that the police obviously have no control over,  often take the law into their own hands and have killed accused blasphemers, innocent or not.

Earlier this summer a mob in one Pakistani city dragged an accused blasphemer from a police building, beat him to death and burned the body.

And the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) wants a global blasphemy law? Over my dead body.

Saudis Consider New Laws To Combat Insulting Islam

I was under the impression that Saudi Arabia already had serious blasphemy laws. After all, the Kingdom is ruled by Sharia, and blasphemy in Islam is considered apostasy, and the sentence for apostasy is death. But according to a recent Reuters article, Saudis are only now considering criminalizing insulting Islam. I assume they just want to bring social media (like Twitter and Facebook) into the mix, possibly in response to the blaspheming 23-year-old journalist/blogger Hamza Kashgari's posts on Twitter in February of this year.
Kashgari wrote on Twitter:

"I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you." [then added] "I will not pray for you."

There were calls for his head by top Islamic clerics (and others), and he was eventually tracked down by Interpol (yes, Interpol!) in Malaysia and sent back to Saudi Arabia.  In some countries, repenting (which Kashgari did) can save your hide, but he was still extradited, and is awaiting trial.

But with these new regulations  it won't just be criticism of Mohammed that could get you in to major trouble,  it will also include other Muslim notables and clerics from way back when, and punishment could be very "severe."

"Within the next two months the Shura Council will reveal the outcome of study on the regulations to combat the criticism of the basic tenets of Islamic sharia."

"The (regulations) are important at the present time because violations over social networks on the Internet have been observed in the past months,"

Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi-style Islam is one of the stricter versions of Islam and the sentence for blasphemy is death.

Although Saudi Arabia every once in while takes a tiny, positive step towards reform, it then takes  giant steps backwards. The youth in that country (and apparently there are many) will need to take things into their own hands before the Kingdom turns into another Iran.

Analyst Jamal Khashoggi says it best:

"I would rather have this law discussed by the public first. It should not only be debated by the Shura, it should be debated in newspapers first because it can be misused."

"I don't want anything to affect my freedom and we don't want Saudi Arabia to be another Iran."

Kuwaiti Writer Gets 7 Years Jail For Insulting Shi'ite Minority

Mohammad al-Mulaifi, a Sunni Muslim Kuwaiti writer, will spend seven years of his life in jail for allegedly insulting the Shi'ite minority via Twitter. He has also been fined around $18,000.

The court said Kuwaiti Mohammad al-Mulaifi posted falsehoods about sectarian divisions in the Gulf Arab country and insulted the Shi’ite faith and its scholars with comments that damaged Kuwait’s image.

He was arrested in February and his comments triggered protests by Shi’ites, according to Kuwaiti media. His lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

But Shi'ites are also targets.  Last month a man was arrested for blasphemy, though he denies it, for insulting Mohammad, Aisha et al, also via Twitter. He claims his account was hacked, and that he would
"....never attack the Holy Prophet." 

Blasphemy is punishable in Islam, but being critical of fellow Muslims?  Where is that in the Quran? And seven years for that?  I realize there is no freedom of speech in Muslim-majority countries, but come on.

This just makes it even more imperative that the push for global anti-blasphemy laws NEVER gets any traction.

7 Years In Jail For Blasphemy For Two Tunisian Men

 Since the Arab Spring, and the resulting rise of Islamism in the region, there seem to be more cases of jail time for 'blasphemers'.

Yesterday, a young Egyptian Christian teen was sentenced to three years in prison for mocking Islam on his Facebook page.  Now we hear of two Tunisians,  Ghazi Beji and Jabeur Mejri (both late twenties) who were fined approximately $800.00 each and sentenced at the end of March to seven years in jail.  According to the justice ministry spokesperson Chokri Nefti,

“They were sentenced, one of them in absentia, to seven years in prison, for transgressing morality, defamation and disrupting public order.”

Disrupting public order?

What's most troubling is that Mejri  and Beji (an atheist), like the young Egyptian, had posted their 'blaspehmous content'  on social networking sites. 

Beji wrote a book called “the Illusion of Islam”, discussing his views about Islam and religion. Mejri, also wrote a book. “Dark Land”, where he “cursed the government, Islamists, and expressed his hatred towards Arabs.“

Beji, a biotech food engineer, lucked out and fled to Greece, seeking asylum. When interviewed by Tunisia Live, Beji said,

  “After the Revolution, in March 2011, I said to myself Tunisia is a free and democratic country now and I should try to publish my book. I contacted several book publishers in Mahdia but they all refused to publish it. So I opted to upload it online.”

Not sure why he thought that a country that is now predominantly Islamist would not take offense to his writings, but I suppose hope springs eternal.  Not so, unfortunately, when you are dealing with religious fanatics. But it is interesting to note how many ex-Muslims there are who are atheists.  Plenty of them on Facebook.

On the other hand, Mejri, who is an English teacher, wasn't so lucky and is currently in police custody waiting to serve his seven years.

Human Rights Watch in Tunisia made their obligatory statement- that the sentencing was  “an attack on freedom of expression and freedom of belief.”   Not that any of the officials would care what HRW has to say about 'freedom', since there is no freedom of expression or belief in non-secular Muslim majority countries.

17-Year-Old Egyptian Christian Gets 3 Years In Jail For Insulting Islam

If Egyptian Christians think it's bad now, wait until there's an Islamist president to go with the Islamist majority in parliament, and Sharia law becomes the official law of the land. 

In Saudi Arabia, under Islamic blasphemy laws, insulting Islam, Mohammad or anyone or thing associated with Islam will get you executed, since the Saudis consider blasphemy 'apostasy' (and Sharia imposes the death penalty for apostasy). Same thing goes for Pakistan. Insult Mohammad, say bye-bye to your head. Defile the Quran, you'll spend the rest of your life in jail. 

Egypt, though not yet an Islamic state, still has blasphemy laws, although the sentences are tame in comparison to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.  Gamal Abdou Massoud, a 17-year-old Christian boy who apparently defamed Islam and Mohammad by posting some cartoons on his Facebook page, will spend three years in prison for his actions. 

Gamal Abdou Massoud was also accused of distributing some of his cartoons to his school friends in a village in the southern city of Assiut, home to a large Christian population and the hometown of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda.

“Assiut child’s court ordered the jailing of Gamal Abdou Massoud ... for three years after he insulted Islam and published and distributed pictures that insulted Islam and its Prophet,” the court said in a statement seen by Reuters.

The cartoons, published by Massoud in December, prompted some Muslims to attack Christians. Several Christian houses were burned and several Christians were injured in the violence.

Human rights lawyer Negad al-Borai said the jail sentence was the maximum penalty under Egyptian law for such a crime.

Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country’s 80 million population, have long had a difficult relationship with Egypt’s overwhelmingly Muslim majority.

Tension between Muslims and Christians has simmered for years but has got worse since the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Christians have become increasingly worried by a surge in attacks on churches, which they blame on hardline Islamists, though experts say local disputes are often also to blame.

The maximum penalty for such a "crime"? The crime is sentencing a child (or anyone else for that matter) to three years in jail for exercising his right to freedom of speech.

But Muslim-majority countries aren't the only ones with blasphemy laws.  I was actually surprised to learn that many Western nations have them as well, though some don't implement the laws, and others just hand out hefty fines. Wales and the U.K. only recently abolished their blasphemy laws. But if the Organization of the Islamic Conference has its way, there will be a global "anti-blasphemy law", and we all better watch out.

Atheist Indonesian Civil Servant Faces Five Years In Jail For Blasphemy

The constitution of so-called 'moderate' Indonesia calls for freedom of religion, with one caveat, however- it has to be one of the 6 state sanctioned faiths. You're good to go if you practice mainstream Islam (minority sects like the Ahmadiyah are a no-no), Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucianism (go figure),Hinduism and Protestantism. I guess you're out of luck if your a Jew. And although Atheism is not a religion, per se, if your an Atheist in Indonesia you better watch out.

30-year-old Alexander Aan, a West Sumatran civil servant and avowed Atheist, created a Facebook Page called Ateis Minang (Minang Atheist) that now has over 2,000 likes. Aan has been very open about his disbelief in God and other religious 'myths' like the devil, angels and heaven and hell. Unfortunately, Aan lives in a heavily Muslim locale and fellow residents took umbrage with a recent post that said "God doesn't exist".  That post was enough to trigger a posse of angry Muslims who trekked on over to his office and beat the man up. He was subsequently arrested, and could face up to five years for blasphemy. He has support from his on-line Facebook 'fans who are encouraging him to stick to his 'beliefs', but extremists, of course, want his head.

The Islamic Society Forum (FUI), an umbrella group for several hardline groups, said that a five-year jail term for Aan would not suffice.

“He deserves the death penalty, even if he decides to repent. What he has done cannot be tolerated,” said Muhammad al-Khaththath, FUI’s secretary-general.

“It is important to prevent this group from spreading atheism in this country,” he added.

He does have the backing of the International Atheist Alliance which has called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to drop all blasphemy charges.

“This is a law that has been used to promote mob violence and intimidation against those who do not agree with... vigilante groups,” said the letter, copies of which were also sent to the United Nations and Human Rights Watch.

Although he has many supporters in those 2,000 plus fans, many who joined after the news of his arrest made headlines are Muslims, and they too are calling for death to all Atheists.

“These atheists should be beheaded, that’s what they deserve,” wrote a man who identified himself as Putra Tama, a Muslim from neighboring Jambi province.

“If you think your arguments are true, why don’t you just have a face-to-face meeting with us, people who still believe in God? You’re just a group of cowards,” taunted a post by another Muslim.

According to local police chief Chairul Aziz, Aan (who was born a Muslim and became an Atheist in 2008) apparently said that he was willing to revert to Islam, but unfortunately it won't make any difference.

“He expressed his intention to convert to Islam but he has not performed an Islamic declaration of faith. Even if he does so, he still can't escape from justice due to his blasphemous act,” Aziz told AFP.

He could also be in trouble for claiming he was a Muslim when he applied for his job, and could be fired.

So much for moderate Indonesia and its bogus freedom of religion.

Sources: Al Arabiya, Jakarta Post