Search Results for: blasphemy

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday issued notices to Google and Wikipedia for “disseminating sacrilegious content” through their platforms. According to the authority, these websites are hosting misleading content about the present khalifa (spiritual head) of Islam. The searches on these platforms show the current leader of the Ahmadiyya community as the “present khalifa [...]

Several UN Special Rapporteurs and members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention collectively pressed Nigeria Monday to halt the execution and overturn the death sentence for blasphemy for 22-year-old gospel singer Yahaya Sharif-Aminu. The experts, Karima Bennoune, Ahmed Shaheed, Leigh Toomey, Elina Steinerte, José Guevara Bermúdez, Seong-Phil Hong, Sètondji Adjovi, Agnes Callamard, Irene Khan [...]

“I tell you that I still consider myself to be an Indian. For the moment I have accepted the Governor-Generalship of Pakistan. But I am looking forward to a time when I would return to India and take my place as a citizen of my country.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Dec 1947 Karachi) Indians have [...]

The Lahore Sessions Court in Pakistan on Tuesday sentenced Christian factory worker Asif Pervaiz to death for blasphemy. Pervaiz has been in custody since 2013 when he was first charged with blasphemy for messages he sent to his former supervisor, Muhammad Saeed Khokher. Judge Mansoor Ahmad Qureshi sentenced Pervaiz to serve three years in prison [...]

On 9th January 2015, in front of the Jeddah Mosque, a Saudi activist and blogger named Raif Badawi was publicly given the first fifty out of the thousand lashes he was sentenced with, for ‘insulting Islam through electronic channels.’ The disturbing incident instantaneously became viral on social media and the #JeSuisRaif movement gained momentum. Saudi [...]

The parliament of Scotland introduced a bill on Friday to modernize hate crimes laws, including a section that would abolish the crime of blasphemy. The purpose of the proposed legislation is “to modernise, consolidate and extend existing hate crime law,” updating the list of protected characteristics, including for the first time adding age to the [...]

A UN human rights expert presented a report to the Human Rights Council Tuesday highlighting an increase in the use of anti-blasphemy and anti-apostasy laws to crack down on dissent. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, noted the increased threat to freedom of expression, writing, “Freedom of religion or [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday upheld the acquittal of Christian woman Asia Bibi, who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy. The court overturned her 2010 blasphemy conviction and death sentence in October for failure to proffer enough evidence that Bibi indeed committed the crime.  The review petition was filed by [...]

The Domestic Violence Act of 2018 went into effect in Ireland on Wednesday, which includes the offense of coercive control. The offense is committed when a person: knowingly and persistently engages in behaviour that- (a) is controlling or coercive, (b) has a serious effect on a relevant person, and (c) a reasonable person would consider [...]

In a referendum held on Friday, October 26, 2018, the people of Ireland voted to amend the Irish Constitution to remove the word blasphemy from Article 40.6.1, which declared that “he publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.” This constitutional amendment enables [...]