The legal profession this week lost one of our best and bravest. Pretending to be potential clients in a matrimonial case, two people entered the law firm of Rashid Rehman Khan and shot him to death. Rashid Rehman, a coordinator for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), had faced death threats for years after he courageously represented a university professor accused of blasphemy. Unable to kill the accused, Islamic extremists appear to have now killed the lawyer. Rehman never flinched in his commitment to the rule of law and to this country.
Pakistan’s continued prosecution of people for expressing their views of faith remains one of the great outrages of our generation. Pakistan is one of our allies that has worked with the Obama Administration to create a new international blasphemy standard. The continued crackdown of anti-religious speech is part of its long-standing blasphemy abuses. For many years, I have been writing about the threat of an international blasphemy standard and the continuing rollback on free speech in the West. For recent columns, click here and here and here.
We have been following the rise of anti-blasphemy laws around the world, including the increase in prosecutions in the West and the support of the Obama Administration for the prosecution of some anti-religious speech under the controversial Brandenburg standard.
The case involving Rehman is typical and disgraceful. Junaid Hafeez, a lecturer at Multan’s Bahauddin Zakariya University was accused of defaming the prophet Mohammed on social media last year. No one would represent the professor until Rehman stepped forward. He was greeted at court with threats against his life. Three lawyers representing the complainant confronted him and reportedly one told him “You will not come to court next time because you will not exist anymore.” Notably, these threats were reportedly made in front of a judge who took no action against those making the threats — an outrageous violation of every principle under the rule of law.
Pakistan (one of our largest recipients of aid) continues to jail people who simply express their faith or views on religion.
There are at least 16 people in Pakistan are on death row for blasphemy and in 2012 the Center for Research and Security Studies found that more than 50 people accused of blasphemy have been lynched since 1990.
This brave lawyer is now dead and the judge who took no action on the threats continues to sit on cases and those lawyers who allegedly threatened him continue to practice law. Putting aside our earlier work on an international blasphemy standard, the question is why we continue to send billions to countries that aggressively fight the core civil liberties that defines not just this country but the rule of law. The death of this extraordinary man is a disgrace not just to Pakistan but those who dismiss blasphemy prosecutions as simply some local or domestic concern. It is not just the denial of due process but the denial of free speech and free exercise — rights that should be guaranteed to all as a basic matter of human rights.
Source: ABA Journal
Scott S:
“I want to transition to renewables now.” That sounds like something my son would say. 🙂 I want clean renewables “now”, too. In fact, I would like for all cars to be solar powered, and for solar panels to be free of toxic materials.
It’s not about “wanting.” We are still in the beta test stage. Wind farms are EXTREMELY loud (we have them in our area), they chop up birds, and I cannot imagine that wild life’s activities are not altered by that annoying sound and chopping feeling in your ears. Solar farms roast birds, literally, the panels are often made of toxic materials like cadmium, and you may have noticed that a great many solar companies here in the US went bankrupt. There’s hydroelectric, but there are problems with the dams interfering with spawning. There’s geothermal, but that’s geographically limited, and they are often in areas with sleeping volcanoes.
The technology is already far more advanced than 10 years ago. Remember when solar panels were used mainly for water heaters? We’re getting there. But as of now, we have not solved the problems stated above. We do not have the infrastructure yet. And it is extremely expensive. We do not want people having to choose between buying food and heating their house above freezing. People in cold climates die every year when their heat goes out, or they turn it off to save money and depend on fires and blankets.
Yes, we all want perfectly clean, green, renewable energy independence. It will be a moving moment when we achieve it, and I can’t wait.
But, unless you want to walk everywhere, grow your own food with seeds you foraged yourself (so they don’t have to be shipped to you), raise sheep, shear them, card the wool, spin it into yarn/thread and then knit or weave your own clothes (unless you want to go the flax/linen route) then what exactly do you propose we do to “transition to renewables now?” You can’t just hope that “something would work out.”
Were you around for the OPEC oil embargo in the 70’s with the loooooooong lines and unaffordable gas?
It would be the same if Thomas Edison invented the light bulb prototype, and then decreed that all other sources of light would be extinguished that night. Forget producing a manufacturing method, wiring communities, creating utilities . . . something would just work out and until then, we would all just sit in the dark.
With the plentiful and robust whines served throughout the day, I have some cheese suggestions. For the robust red served today, I suggest a sharp and pungent Fontinella. It is an acquired taste, either you love or hate. For the lighter reds, maybe a gouda. The white wines are always good w/ brie, although it’s not my favorite.
I think I will cancel my subscription to the Weekly Standard. Nowadays, reading Prof. Turley’s blog is an adequate facsimile.
Karen: “and Joe Biden said Obama was ‘articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy'”
You don’t see the difference between that and the word “uppity?” You do know what traditionally followed the word uppity, don’t you?
You think that Joe Biden and Rep Lynn Westmoreland think the same thing about African Americans?
Karen again:
“I don’t like being lied to.”
And yet I’m guessing you voted for Bush twice.
Karen S:
When Congress and the Justice Department decide to take on the war crimes that continue to morally disfigure this nation, I may then be able to control the urge to vomit when yet another self-righteous Congressman announces the formation of yet another committee to conduct yet another hearing on Benghazi.
Mike A – War crimes by American forces are first tried by military courts, the Congress and DOJ really have nothing to do with that. And, if you follow the news, some ‘war crimes’ have been tried by the military.
Dredd
“After Ben’s thingy got uppity it required a lot of gauzi, because it got whacked by Senator Widestance.”
Heh. I guess your humor was too much for Schulte to respond to, as he has now dropped this subject.
Freedom of religion is a meaningless concept unless a people is committed to religious pluralism. And religious pluralism is impossible in a society which permits the prosecution of purely doctrinal offenses, which would include blasphemy, apostasy, heresy and similar categories of theological non-conformity. No criticism of or insult toward a system of religious (or political or social) belief can be justified as a reasonable restriction on freedom of speech because any such restriction narrows the range of ideas which may be publicly debated to those deemed acceptable by the dominant culture.
Regardless of what the Constitution says, those are just words on a piece of paper. We can certainly denounce intolerance in Pakistan and elsewhere, but we ought to also remember that the religious battles raging in our own country are sufficient evidence that the survival of the freedoms of speech and religion is hardly a foregone conclusion.
Karen: “Watergate seems so tame nowadays. Bugging an opponents campaign office.”
You think that’s all watergate was? Now I see why the others in here ignore you.
Supak – you make a broad, unsupported statement about Watergate and then denigrate Karen. Back up the statement on Watergate.
Karen S
we have been giving aid to nations that do not share our views on human rights and religious freedoms for many years.”
This is precisely why I asked for proof that you have complained about it before Obama.
“Heck, very few nations do share our views. ”
Whose views? My views are quite different than yours.
“We are moved by the plight of the people, but unfortunately much of the funding ends up in the wrong hands.”
Who is moved by the plight of the people? Who is “we?”
“And this is the first blog I believe I have ever contributed to, so, sorry, no public comments posted from the Bush era.”
OK, did you complain about Bush’s giving funds to terror nations to your friends? Anyone can vouch for this being a long trend of yours? Or is this just something that you discovered after the election of this President?
“Obama’s “all of the above” energy policy is a joke.”
Not to me it’s not. I don’t like fracking. I don’t want pipelines that carry oil. I don’t want deep water drilling. I don’t want drilling in the Arctic.
I want to transition to renewables now. Musk’s gigafactory is going to put solar on grid parity quite soon, even without subsidies. We have no excuse.
“The only oil development increases have been in the private sector. ”
They have to get permits to drill. They got them.
“He has blocked domestic development whenever he could. ”
That’s not true.
“He’s also played venture capitalist, but not a very good one, with the solar panel industry,”
Actually, the fail rate is quite low compared to most venture capital endeavors, and AGAIN, Bush did this too. I’d like to see your complaints about Bush’s loan guarantees to get us off our “oil addiction” as he put it.
“waived fines that should be imposed on wind farms for killing birds.”
Do you know how many birds there are? Do you know how many birds house cats kill every year?
” But it’s his track record I care about. ”
Me too. That’s why I voted for him instead of Romney. Lesser of evils. Willard had a whole bunch of Cheney’s boys on his foreign policy team. We’d be bombing Iran by now.
“If Bush pulled a fraction of the shenanigans that have gone on recently”
Bush pulled way more. Politicization of the DoJ comes to mind. Iraq comes to mind.
Not that you care.
“IRS”
They targeted more progressive groups than conservative ones. And that’s their job.
“NSA”
Bush programs, continued. Again, I’d like to see your complaints about the very same programs being run under Bush.
However, there is a progressive wing to the Democratic party that agrees that spying on Americans without warrants is wrong. In fact, that wing is growing. 70% of Democrats voted against renewing the Patriot Act. Only 14% of Republicans did. I await your switch to the progressive side over this issue…
“drones targeting Americans”
Now that’s a good one. However, I wonder how many Americans Bush droned, and his administration was so secretive that they just never told anyone about it?
The real question for me is, how many Americans would Willard or John “bomb bomb bomb Iran” McCain would have droned. I’m convinced I voted for the lesser evil here, as well.
“there would have been riots in the streets”
There were many protests. I know. I was physically attacked by Bush supporters at several.
Supak – want to back up your statement on the IRS that you made to Karen. Actually, would you like to back the entire thing up? You make a lot of blanket statements and we are supposed to accept them since you said them. I for one would like more proof.
Annie
You’re a rope? Huh? o_O
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I’m hip or hep or hemp.
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Annie
Cheesus! Oops is that blasphemy?
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Not in a Green Bay church.
That said, I agree with Charles Krauthammer that the object needs to be to discover the truth, not to make political speeches that will detract from the carnage of Obamacare.
Oh, Benghazi – where we had an ambassador in what was universally considered the hottest embassy where we have diplomatic relations, where there was violence every month, where SOS Clinton removed the US military guard and replaced it with Libyan personnel (because that has such a super track record.) And then she spent a bunch of money on electric cars in an embassy in Europe. And then she ignored repeated please from ambassador Stevens to replace the military guard. And then she waited for permission from Libya to rescue him when we had military close enough to help. And, when she had documented intel from the CIA, survivors, and the military that this was no protest – this was a well-planned terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9/11, the State Department altered the talking points, removing terrorism. And then she and Susan Rice spent the next few weeks blaming a free-speech video that dared to criticize Islam. This was documented to be a deliberate, known lie. And then she said, “Why does it even matter anyway what happened?” And then she kept trying not to testify. And then witnesses were told they were not permitted to be interviewed. What does it matter how long an investigation went on if it was stonewalled?
That Benghazi? Watergate seems so tame nowadays. Bugging an opponents campaign office. Heck, it’s common place to plant moles nowadays. 4 people died from gross negligence that was covered up, and the President and SOS lied to the American people.
I don’t like being lied to.
Ah yes Dylan is Divine.
Cheesus! Oops is that blasphemy?
You’re a rope? Huh? o_O
Annie,
“Gosh I’m beginning to have a flashback from my Pentecostal days.”
I wish you well.
Annie
Dredd, stop blaspheming.
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I’m hemp.
Gosh I’m beginning to have a flashback from my Pentecostal days.
“Where there is no law there is no sin.” -Rom. 4:15
The libertarian conservative House T-baggers are seeking to free us from sin.
Lawlessness will get rid of sin.
Their Jesusness is just overwhelming.
The only law that will remain is “THOU SHALT NOT BENGHAZI” … way cool … we will all be saved … Yippee Yahoo Google …
Dredd – you can hope that the Libtards try to rescue Hillary and the WH from the coming disaster, but with good luck that is not going to happen.