Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion

Californian Engineer Charged With Blasphemy After Allegedly Turning Off Loud Speaker At Mosque

In our ongoing coverage of blasphemy prosecutions, the case of Gregory Luke, 64, in Indonesia is a standout. The retired Californian engineer is charged with blasphemy for allegedly turning off a speaker system during Ramadan playing prayers throughout the night. He denies that he did so, but the allegation was enough for a crowd to tear apart his home on Lombok island and Luke to be arrested.

Luke admits that he went to the mosque to complain that the amplification of the prayers was too loud. He said that he was immediately set upon by the crowd and prosecutor Baiq Nurjanah is now demanding seven months jail for blasphemy.

I have previously criticized the Obama Administration’s retreat in supporting an international blasphemy measure to appease Middle Eastern allies.
We have seen an increase in such blasphemy prosecutions in the West.

Luke asked for mercy and a light sentence before the court — despite the fact that he previously denied the allegations. He said that he was attacked when he asked for the volume to be turned down and then stoned. He was then chased to his home, which was tore apart while the local police watched and did nothing. Notably, the police did not charge a single person for the attack on Luke or ransacking his home. It appears those crimes are not covered under Sharia law – at least in this case.

Source: Telegraph

Jonathan Turley

29 thoughts on “Californian Engineer Charged With Blasphemy After Allegedly Turning Off Loud Speaker At Mosque”

  3. pete: “in Heinlein’s later books he did get just a bit to much into his mother.”
    —

    LOL!

  4. Otteray Scribe

    in Heinlein’s later books he did get just a bit to much into his mother.
    excerpts from the notebooks of lazaruz long in time enough for love were always my favorites

  5. But it’s a lovely geek joke, Gyges.

    I can’t argue that Rand isn’t a lowly hack compared to the craftsmanship of Heinlein, but I think one of the reasons he – despite his dubious politics – didn’t attract Libertarians like Rand did is ultimately because of what is widely considered his best book, Stranger In A Strange Land. He may have been a political libertarian, but he was a social liberal – even if he had to use Martian logic to explain it.

  6. Bob,

    Plus they changed the class system, and THAC0.

    And that’s my geek joke for the week.

  7. “In my Ninth Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary”

    Stick with the 8th edition; it’s the last publication that included case law cites.

  9. OS,

    As someone who relies mainly on used book store and library selections, I’m used to coming in in the middle. Heck, I let my 3 year old son pick a book for me at the library, and usually read it. So far, it’s been better than you’d expect Gary Larson, Lansdale, a really neat little sci-nior book I’d have to look the name of up.

    It was the structure of the novel that bugged me.

    1. Set up problem
    2. build tension
    3. skip 20 years into the future when the problem’s been resolved.

    I just felt cheated at the end of each section.

Comments are closed.