From a CNN interview (starting at 2:15): Interviewer: When I spoke to him over the phone, Judge Martin acknowledged it’s his job to protect the rights of people like the atheist, no matter how offensive they might be. Interviewer to Judge Martin: … There are some who believe you were failing to protect that right. […]
Archive | Blasphemy
“Zombie Mohammed” Judge Responds
A reader passed along this message that appears to be from the judge in the Zombie Mohammed case: This story certainly has legs. As you might imagine, the public is only getting the version of the story put out by the “victim” (the atheist). Many, many gross misrepresentations. Among them: I’m a Muslim, and that’s […]
Letting People Get Away With Attacks on Offensive Ideological Expression
The incident in which a judge dismissed charges against a Muslim who attacked a “Zombie Mohammed” parader — possibly because of the judge’s expressed anger at the parader’s expression — reminded me of this episode from 1990 (New York Times): The Louisiana House passed a bill today that would lower to $25 the fine against […]
Charges Dismissed in Pennsylvania Prosecution for Attack on “Zombie Mohammed” Atheist Parader
PennLive.com reports on this case, in which Talaag Elbayomy was accused of attacking a man who was marching in a Halloween parade (alongside a “zombie Pope”), and shouting “I am the prophet Mohammed, zombie from the dead” [UPDATE: and apparently carrying a sign that said “Muhammed of Islam” on one side and “only Muhammed can […]
Saudi Writer Extradited from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia Over Tweets About Mohammed
Here is the offending speech, framed as statements to Mohammed on his birthday: On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you. […]
TV Station Director in Tunisia Faces Blasphemy Trial for Broadcasting “Persepolis”
The New York Times reports: [M]any in Tunisia, both pious and less so, were taken aback by the brief scene in which God was personified — speaking in Tunisian slang no less. A week later, a crowd of Salafis — the term used for the most conservative Islamists — attacked the house of Nabil Karoui, […]
Indonesian Atheist’s Statement Leads to Mob Beating, Criminal Prosecution
The Telegraph (UK) reports: An Indonesian civil servant who posted a Facebook message asserting that God did not exist was taken into protective custody after being badly beaten by a mob, some of them his colleagues. The atheist identified as Alexander, who goes by just one name, now faces five years imprisonment for blasphemy after […]
Another Conviction in Europe for Insulting Religion
From TheNews.pl: A Polish pop star has been fined 5000 zloty (1140 euro) by a Warsaw court for offending religious feelings. Dorota Rabczewska, known to the public as Doda, was taken to court owing to an interview she gave for the Gazeta Dziennik Prawna daily in 2009. In the interview, the singer lamented that there […]
Indian Court Orders Facebook (and Others) to Delete “Anti-Religious” and “Anti-Social” Posts
Hindustan Times (Dec. 24, 2011) reports: A Delhi Court on Saturday ordered 22 social networking sites, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, to remove all “anti-religious” or “anti-social” contents in the next one-and-a-half-month[s] …. Kumar had on December 20 issued summonses to the social networking sites and asked them to remove objectionable photographs, videos or […]
Austrian Court Upholds Conviction for “Denigrating Religious Beliefs”
Soeren Kern (Hudson New York) reports: An Austrian appellate court has upheld the conviction of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a Viennese housewife and anti-Jihad activist, for “denigrating religious beliefs” after giving a series of seminars about the dangers of radical Islam. The December 20 ruling shows that while Judaism and Christianity can be disparaged with impunity in […]
Time‘s Paris Bureau Chief: Charlie Hebdo Mohammed-Cover Issue “Outrageous, Unacceptable, [and] Condemnable”
The post is here; here’s the introduction and conclusion: Okay, so can we finally stop with the idiotic, divisive, and destructive efforts by “majority sections” of Western nations to bait Muslim members with petulant, futile demonstrations that “they” aren’t going to tell “us” what can and can’t be done in free societies? Because not only […]
French Weekly Publishes Cartoon of Mohammed, Gets Firebombed
Agence France Press reported: The offices of a French satirical newspaper that published a special Arab Spring edition with the Prophet Mohammed on the cover as “guest editor” were destroyed in a suspected firebomb attack Wednesday. The attack came after Charlie Hebdo renamed the weekly newspaper Charia (Sharia) Hebdo for the occasion and featured a […]
In Egypt, Three Years in Prison for “Insulting Islam”
Agence France Press reports: An Egyptian court sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour on Saturday for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook, the official MENA news agency reported. The Cairo court found that Ayman Yusef Mansur “intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and […]
“Turkish Cartoonist to Be Put on Trial for Renouncing God”
So reports a prominent Turkish newspaper (thanks to Ed Grinberg for the pointer): Baruter’s caricature depicted an imam and believers praying in a mosque. One of the characters is talking to God on his cellphone and asking to be pardoned from the last part of the prayer because he has errands to run. Within the […]
Pakistan Court Temporarily Blocks Facebook on the Grounds That It “Spread[s] Religious Hatred”
So reports Pakistan Today: The Lahore High Court Justice Sh Azmat Saeed on Monday ordered ministry of information and technology to block access to all websites in Pakistan especially American social networking website “Facebook”, spreading religious hatred on internet and to submit a compliance report by October 6. The judge, however, made it clear that […]