Pakistan has reportedly accused an Islamic extremist imam of “hate speech” for accusing activists of committing blasphemy and has ordered the radical to apologize in an apparent effort to portray the Muslim-majority country as tolerant towards minorities.
A self-identified Birmingham Muslim has told the BBC that those who “insult Islam” should be subject to the death penalty, during a discussion on blasphemy organised by the broadcaster’s Asian Network. On March 17th, the BBC Asian Network broadcast a
Police were scrambled to an area of Bradford Thursday night after local Muslims reacted hysterically to copies of the Quran being found in a skip.
The prime minister of Pakistan has issued directives to relevant authorities to demand that foreign social media companies block or remove “blasphemous” content and has also called for Pakistanis who post “blasphemous” material online to be “strictly punished.”
Thousands of extremists in Muslim-majority Pakistan took to the streets in defiance of a ban on protests to rally in support of a man executed for killing a governor, who called to change the country’s strict blasphemy laws that primarily target Christians and other minority groups.
Pakistani authorities arrested a 70-year-old Christian father and his family, including his three children between the ages of 8 and 14, for an alleged act of blasphemy, reports the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA).
Imam Habib Rizieq Shihab, the leader of the Shariah promotion group the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) is facing criminal charges of violating Indonesia’s laws against blasphemy after a Catholic group accused him of mocking the birth of Jesus Christ.
An Indonesian court will prosecute Jakarta’s Christian governor who has been accused of blasphemy against the Qur’an, a judge announced on Tuesday. A panel of judges rejected a petition by the legal defense team of governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known
Indonesian courts have commenced the trial of Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, facing charges of blasphemy for having joked about a paragraph in the Quran that implies Muslims should not be governed by non-Muslims.
The National Secular Society (NSS) has said Muslims are creating a “special category” to protect Islam from criticism in the UK, and the press and British institutions have “internalised [a] de facto blasphemy law” after a gymnast was banned from competition after “mocking” the religion.
A British gymnast and Olympic champion has been banned from the sport for two months after appearing to ‘mock’ Islam in a leaked private video.
STRASBOURG, France: A Turkish official ripped a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed out of a mural at the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg, a source at the rights body said Friday. Dozens of people watched as the official, a
Asian Image, a news site for British Muslim and Hindus, has run an editorial which concludes: “So, whilst we may well moan of Islamophobia, let’s face it, the biggest threat to Muslims are in fact other Muslims.”
The Egyptian government has rejected a bill to abolish its controversial anti-blasphemy law, ruling that there is no need to eliminate or soften legislation that does not significantly undermine freedom of thought in the country.
A 25-year-old Christian named Imran Masih, from the Punjab province of Pakistan, has been charged with “blasphemy” for allegedly watching anti-Islamic lectures on his smartphone.
(AFP) – An Istanbul court on Thursday sentenced two prominent Turkish journalists to two years behind bars for illustrating their columns with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed originally published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The sentence handed to
Contents: Thousands protest violently over execution of murderer of blasphemy reformer; Pakistan Taliban branch takes credit for Easter massacre of Christians in Lahore
A Russian court may prosecute a man for blasphemy after he offended Orthodox Christians when he wrote, “There is no God” in a 2014 webchat.
An Egyptian court has sentenced three teenage Coptic Christians to five years in jail for insulting Islam in a video posted online last year.
A Spanish poet may face prosecution for allegedly “attacking religious sentiment” after she recited a rewriting of the Lord’s Prayer in praise of the vagina. Catholics have accused her of blasphemy, a charge she has denied. Dolors Miquel’s recital of
Three Christian high school students will stand trial for blasphemy in Egypt Thursday on charges that they insulted Islam, after a video of the students emerged in which they allegedly mock Muslim prayers. If found guilty, the three teenagers could face
A 15-year-old boy in the Pakistani village of Hujra Shah Muqeem has cut off his own hand after the local imam called him a “blasphemer” during a sermon. Even more horrifying, the boy’s neighbors, and even his own father, are hailing him as a hero for mutilating himself in the name of Islam.
(AFP)- A 15-year-old Pakistani boy cut off his own hand believing he had committed blasphemy, only to be celebrated by his parents and neighbours for the act, police told AFP Friday. Local police chief Nausher Ahmed described how an imam
In early December, a Hindu leader in India named Kamlesh Tiwari referred to Mohammed as “the world’s first homosexual.” This did not sit well with the local Muslim community, which called for the government to prosecute Tiwari for everything from “blasphemy” to making “anti-social” statements “designed to incite a riot.”
In a house in Bradford, north England a scene is being played out that is as old as Christianity itself: the faithful gathering in a home to share fellowship and the gospel. The guests, some of whom have travelled from
The latest “blasphemy” trial from Pakistan involves a Christian laborer named Pervaiz Masih, who was working on a construction site when one of his Muslim co-workers reportedly knocked off work to listen to a religious speech. Masih told him to get back to work, an argument ensued, and according to the charges, Masih made “derogatory remarks against the prophet of Islam.”
This sudden concern for religious sensibility from the media elite is astounding, since it seems like only yesterday they were gleefully encouraging hate mobs to trash Christians who dared to politely assert their own religious beliefs. The media elite has no problem whatsoever with cartoons, and other forms of entertainment, designed to offend Christians.
Egyptian authorities arrested five Coptic Christian children after a Muslim mob accused them of blasphemy. The mob was upset they appeared in a video that allegedly “mocked” Islam, but really only made fun of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), which is determined to wipe Christianity, Judaism, and non-compliant Muslims off the Earth.
Gerard Biard, Editor-in-Chief of Charlie Hebdo, argued that blasphemy is necessary and misunderstood on Monday’s “The Last Word” on MSNBC. Biard said, “people don’t know what — what blasphemy is. I think that blasphemy can be a good thing. Because
The government of Turkey has banned French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s website from being accessed anywhere in the country along with a total of blocked websites in the tens of thousands.
The Guardian has been strongly criticised by its own readers for an article which suggested that freedom of speech must only be used “responsibly”, and that speech without self restraint was tantamount to “provocation”. The commentary, by columnist Hugh Muir,
I noticed it first when a person said to me, “I used to like your work, until you said X.” The “X” could have been a joke or comment about pets or musicians — but for the offended, it was enough for them to disown their previous opinions of me forever.
The movement in Ireland to challenge Irish anti-blasphemy laws via referendum is gaining momentum after last week’s Paris attacks on Charlie Hebdo, but had already been underway for some time.
An Imam in Peshawar, Pakistan hosted a parade on Tuesday to honor the two Al Qaeda-linked brothers who were responsible for carrying out the jihadi retribution killings of twelve at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
If there were ever really a bright moment in the sun for Charlie Hebdo magazine’s slain writers and editors to be hailed as free speech martyrs, it’s just about over. The Left is very uneasy with the notion of celebrating people who delighted in trampling on sacred narratives about power and victimization. To be brutally frank, modern “liberals” aren’t all that wild about free speech, either.
After a coordinated three-day rampage on the town of Baga in northeast Nigeria, as well 15-20 other nearby towns, up to 2000 resident civilians have been killed.
