So allege the plaintiffs in Freedom From Religious Foundation v. Orange County School Board (M.D. Fla.), filed last week, and the letter from the school board — Exhibit A — bears this out. First, a bit of background. Some public schools have allowed religious groups to distribute Bibles at the school. This led to Establishment […]
Archive | Blasphemy
Turkish Blogger Sentenced to 13 Months in Prison for Criticizing Mohammed
Hurriyet Daily News reported last week: An Istanbul court has sentenced Turkish-Armenian writer Sevan Nişanyan to 58 weeks in prison for an alleged insult to the Prophet Muhammad in a blog post. The prosecutor had been seeking one and a half years of jail time for Nişanyan on charges of “insulting the religious beliefs held […]
Arab Israeli Legislator Proposes Ban on Insults to Mohammed (and Possibly All Cartoons of Mohammed)
Israel Hayom reports: Arab MK Ibrahim Sarsur (Ra’am-Ta’al) has reintroduced [together with two other legislators from Arab parties] legislation that would lower the threshold for what is considered a racist offense and would ban the publication of materials that disparage the Prophet Muhammad [as well as Moses, Jesus, and various religious scriptures] through a “cartoon, […]
Russian Bill Criminalizing Insults to Religious Feeling Passes Second Reading in Parliament
Lenta.ru so reports. The bill would criminalize “actions in public, demonstrating clear disrespect to society and committed with the intent to insult the religious feelings of believers,” with the maximum punishment being one year in prison, or three years if the actions are committed in a place of worship. The final vote on the law […]
Woman Parading Dressed as Pope from Waist Up, Naked from Waist Down, Charged with Public Nudity
TribLive (Pittsurgh) reports: Carnegie Mellon University police on Friday filed charges of indecent exposure against two art students accused of public nudity during a campus parade sponsored by the College of Fine Arts. Police identified the female student accused of parodying the pope as she paraded nude from the waist down as Katherine B. O’Connor, […]
Women at the Western Wall in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem Post reports (thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer): In a groundbreaking ruling, the Jerusalem District Court upheld an earlier decision of the magistrate’s court that women who wear prayer shawls (“tallitot” in Hebrew) at the Western Wall Plaza are not contravening “local custom” or causing a public disturbance, and […]
“Racist Hate Speech” Conviction in Belgium for Tearing up Koran in Front of a Group of Muslims
Dr. Jogchum Vrielink (coordinator of the Centre for Discrimination Law at the University of Leuven, Belgium) passes this along: In Belgium a man was convicted for ‘racist hate speech’ because he publicly tore up a Koran, before the eyes of a group of Muslims. The case illustrates the need to protect free speech against those […]
Turkish Composer and Pianist Fazil Say Sentenced for “Insulting Muslim Values”
So reports the BBC; the sentence is 10 months’ suspended, so that he will not go to jail on this occasion, but he “would be subject to the prison time should he commit a similar crime within five years,” according to BusinessWeek.com. The case against him was based on about half a dozen postings on […]
“God Is Great — Hang the Atheist Bloggers”
Al Jazeera reports: Hundreds of thousands of people have held protests in Bangladesh to demand that the government introduce an anti-blasphemy law that would include the death penalty for bloggers who insult Islam…. Supporters of Hefazat-e-Islam, an Islamist group which draws support from tens of thousands of religious seminaries [and that has the backing of […]
>100 Christian Homes Burned in Pakistan Because of “Allegations That a Christian Man Made Remarks Against … Mohammed”
CNN reports: [Pakistani Christian] demonstrators denounced the burning of more than 100 homes of Christians on Saturday — a spree spurred by allegations that a Christian man made remarks against the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Some of the hundreds of protesters Sunday threw stones at police, saying the government failed to adequately protect Christians, Lahore senior […]
YouTube Banned in Egypt for a Month, as Punishment for Hosting “Innocence of Muslims” Video
AhramOnline reports: Egypt’s administrative court on Saturday ordered the ban of YouTube in the country for a month for not removing the controversial anti-Islam film, The Innocence of Islam. The court’s verdict also applies to any website that aided in the sharing of the 13-minute film…. The AP reports much the same, though adds that, […]
More on the Indian State’s Censorship of the Spy Thriller That Was Supposedly Offensive to Muslims
I blogged about this Thursday, under the heading Indian State Government Temporarily Blocks Release of Spy Thriller, Citing Fear of Riots by Muslims. I thought I’d note two follow-ups: First, director Kamal Haasan has “agreed to seven demands of Muslim leaders, mostly muting of the audio of portions objected to by them,” and it now […]
10 Years in Prison for Publishing Articles That Insulted the King of Thailand
So reports the Bangkok Post: The 10-year prison sentence handed down to Voice of Taksin editor Somyot Prueksakasemsuk for lese majeste crimes has prompted criticism from human rights groups worldwide…. [Somyot] was [convicted] of … publishing two articles in 2010 that were deemed insulting to the royal family…. The articles were written by former PM’s […]
Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. Accused of Blasphemy in Pakistani Proceedings
Pakistan Today reports: The Supreme Court (SC) admitted a petition for hearing against Pakistani ambassador to US Sherry Rehman over allegedly committing blasphemy, a local TV channel reported. A two-member bench of the SC comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer jamali and Justice Ejaz Afzal directed CCPO Multan [a police official] to take action according to the […]
Two Saudi Blasphemy Cases
The International Business Times reports (see also Gulf News and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty): Novelist Turki al-Hamad, 58, one of Saudi Arabia’s more unapologetic and outspoken liberal voices, is now in custody for a series of posts he published on his Twitter last weekend comparing fundamentalist Islamist ideology and its strict social controls […]