The top Saudi clerics have found another person to execute for free speech. We have previously seen a number of people accused of blasphemy for brief tweets or Facebook entries or even reading a book or speaking insulting thoughts at prayer. There is now a campaign to execute 23-year-old journalist Hamza Kashgari for a tweet that he sent to Mohammad on his birthday about Kashgari’s faith. There is no evidence that Mohammad is actually one of his followers but Mohammad’s followers are pretty ticked and labelled Kashgari an “apostate” who must be killed for his offense to Islam.
You are probably thinking the tweet must be pretty darn bad to fit serious blasphemy into 140 characters or less. Yet, Kashgari is being charged over a fake conversation that he had with Mohammad, who is not even listed as one of his “followers” on Twitter. Kashgari (who has apologized) wrote “On your birthday I find you in front of me wherever I go. I love many things about you and hate others, and there are many things about you I don’t understand.” As also tweeted “No Saudi women will go to hell, because it’s impossible to go there twice.”
The faithful even created a festive Facebook page with nearly 10,000 members dedicated to executing the journalist — declaring “The Saudi people demand Hamza Kashgari’s execution” already has nearly 10,000 members.
The committee of top clerics confirmed that these people are only doing what is right and told Saudis that “Muslim scholars everywhere have agreed that those who insult Allah and his prophet or the (Muslim holy book) Koran or anything in religion are infidels and apostates.” They called on him to be “judge[d] based on sharia law,” which demands death for those who insult Mohammad or the religion.
Other clerics repeated prior warnings that good Muslims do not Tweet. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh announced that Twitter is “a great danger not suitable for Muslims… it is a platform for spreading lies and making accusations.”
Once again, these stories show the perils of the effort of the Obama Administration to establish standards for the criminalization of anti-religious speech with Muslim countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Source: Washington Post
Bron,
……So you condone the cutting off of the head of a young man asking questions about his God and his religion?
Haven’t you got further than that in your debating club?
Or should I riposte with:
“Have you stopped sodomizing people?” Just to make a point.
but don’t think you will get it anyway. You didn’t get any insight of my former post.
So, like—–hopeless. You’re like my fellow night class students at Pasadena College who told me, rebukingly, “We’re not here to question, only to learn what the teacher says.” Did you study under similar circumstances?
This is the Right Wing of the Islamic people. Every bird has two wings. Birds of a feather flock together. So the birds over here have a right wing that says you cant use a condom and the birds over there kill ya for talking about it.
Gene H:
I think you are projecting again. Except you use the Fourier Phalanx ca. 1825. It doesnt have a hard drive, it uses a donkey for direction and is usually busted.
It is typically found in Cuba, the Old Soviet Union and other countries which embrace stupidity as an ideology.
id707 to Bron, “Sometimes I wonder from what sort of telescope you view this world.”
From what I can tell, it’s an Ayn Rand “Übermensch 2000” model with a von Mises/Rothbard motor drive.
The optics are precision ground to ensure wide field distortion and near perfect myopia. The drive system is notable because it’s only capable of tracking objects sideways or backwards.
idealist707:
“Sometimes I wonder from what sort of telescope you view this world.”
So you condone the cutting off of the head of a young man asking questions about his God and his religion?
Do you think people who would kill a young person for having metaphysical questions about the nature of God and faith are going to stop? A simple question any young person would ask and he also just simply made a statement about the way women are treated in SA. And for this the clerics issue a death sentence? Do you think these types of people [fundamentalists] are ever going to make peace with the west?
What kind of rose colored glasses do you see the world with?
Monsr. Madeleine:
No I think DHS should be eliminated, I am afraid of it.
By the way Les Miserables was a great book.
another reason to stay away from the social media networks…
Bron said:
….This is getting pretty bad. And it is only going to get worse. We are going to have to fight these people all over again ….”
There you are again.
A simile: In Spain is a nice Salvador Dali museum with a very large painting in completely abstract form. Next to it is a small notice which suggests viewing it from a telescope, some 40 yards away across the room. The view from there shows the painting to be a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, a good likeness in fact.
Sometimes I wonder from what sort of telescope you view this world.
@Bron, misread. sorry. Still, he is arguing it was anonymous so he should be immune. I do not think DHS should be policing twitter. If they are they will need to make a list of illegal tweets public. Are you on twitter?The level of sarcasm, facetiousness, and brazen tongue in cheek posts is extremely high. Allowing the government to censor tweets is another totalitarian step by this government against the people who live under it.
@ Bron,
Most speech is protected speech in this country. See Bradenburg. But are you suggesting merely tweeting ‘D.A.’s suck’ is an arrestable offense? My how far we have sunk.
anon nurse:
what did he tweet? Did he tweet to incite a riot or some other criminal act? or did he just say something like “cops and DA’s suck”?
Doesnt it depend on the nature of the tweet, just like you cannot yell fire in a crowded theatre or incite people to riot the nature of the tweet, I would assume, would be the determining factor in whether this was a criminal issue or an individual rights issue.
This is getting pretty bad. And it is only going to get worse. We are going to have to fight these people all over again in a few years and they will only be more bold having sent us packing from both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Al Qaeda isnt the problem, it is their life philosophy which is the problem. Although I dont think I would call it a philosophy of life.
An interesting case here in the U.S.:
“The Government Says You Are Better Off Passing Out Flyers in a Ski Mask Than Tweeting Controversial Material”
http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/government-says-you-are-better-passing-out-flyers-ski-mask-tweeting-controversial
Feb 9th, 2012
Posted by Kade Crockford, ACLU of Massachusettsat 11:48am
Excerpt:
“The government attorney had some pretty shocking things to say about anonymous speech and our client’s rights. Among them: the “voluntary nature of the tweeting” is what “puts his IP address out there.” No one forced him to use Twitter, she argued, and therefore his personally identifiable information is fair game for the government to scoop up.
The judge countered, asking her how he might engage in anonymous speech in the 21st century if not online. Shockingly, she said, “he could have gone down to Dewey square and handed out flyers.” But he would not be anonymous if he did that, Judge Spina said. People will see him handing out those flyers. (Ed note: so will the literally tens of surveillance cameras pointed at the square.)
“He can wear a ski mask,” the D.A. said, prompting at least one snicker from the public. “When he contracts through Twitter” to speak publicly, “he gives up” his rights to anonymity, she said.
So there you have it. All you people who use the internet out there, know this: the government advises that if you want your speech to remain anonymous, you put on a mask and head down to the most politically surveilled region in your city to pass out controversial anti-government material that angers the police. But don’t say anything on Twitter, or the government can find you, and you won’t have the right to step into a courtroom and say, “that’s not right.”
Stay tuned for more on this case, coming as soon as we hear from Judge Spina. Let’s hope he realizes what most of us have long known: when we click a box next to Terms of Service agreements in order to be able to engage in the 21st century world of ideas, we aren’t consenting to giving away our Constitutional rights.
Let’s hope Judge Spina agrees.
End of excerpt
For those among the Swedes in Riyadh who could stomach it, a Friday “fun activity” was going to “Nacka Torg” to watch the beheadings.
It was a rough sandy square surrounded by bazaars. Now there’s probably a stadium there. Progress is admirable.
The Pope had his Martin Luther, when will Mohammad get his?
(´Nacka torg is a place in Stockholm, but “nacka” means to chop off the head, as of a live chicken. Grim humor.) Dare I say: TGIF ???
Texas on a bad day with robes on …
Good Friday morning to you, too, AY. (Good luck with the BB. 😉 )
From the Washington Post article:
“The Saudi ambassador to the United Nations, Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi, told a packed audience at New York University this week that Saudi Arabia was a “land of opportunity” where there was no oppression of dissidents. I confronted the ambassador with lists of liberals, women and dissidents that had been arrested, beheaded and whipped. When questioned about Kashgari, Mouallimi replied that the journalist “has gone beyond the limits of what is acceptable in society.” His tweets were “not acceptable in a country like Saudi Arabia. This can never be acceptable,” the ambassador added.”
–David Keyes (David Keyes is executive director of the New York-based organization Advancing Human Rights and co-founder of CyberDissidents.org.)
AN,
We just can’t have any discontent….now canwe…. I am trying to figure out how to cut and paste a story off of rueters….It is scare… not sure how to work this BB Tablet to its fullest extent….
Good Friday Morning…
One of these days those clerics will have an epiphany and come charging headlong into the more modern and enlightened tenth century.
More crimes against humanity have been committed in the name of religion and “saving souls” than all other forms of criminal activity since the dawn of time.
Allah sucks. Come and get me I have a shotgun and a dog pack. I thought Muhammed Ali was out of fighting.
They have only executed 65 people this year….. They are ahead of Texas and Florida combined…..