Return Of A Victimless Crime Update

Proof positive that the ‘crime’ of blasphemy has nothing to do with ‘god,’ Allah, Zeus, Thor or any other imaginary friend that has never existed. The ‘crime’ of blasphemy is all about the demands of religious fascists that their ideology not be subject to criticism of any kind.

 

In my previous post, I expressed concern that a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights has apparently raised the rights of religious people not to have their feelings hurt above freedom of speech. The particular case involved an Austrian woman who had referred to Muhammad of Mecca’s ‘marriage’ to six year old Aisha as “akin to paedophilia.”  Whilst I took issue with the deliberately provocative use of the emotive word “paedophilia,” I suggested that the freedom to criticise any ideology trumps the feelings of believers. I went further and, quoting only Islamic sources, showed that Muhammad was 51 when he married Aisha when she was six and that the Koran contains instructions for marrying and divorcing prepubescent girls. I drew no conclusions but left readers to make up their own minds.

 

Which brings me to the case of Asia Bibi.

Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Christian woman, part of a tiny minority of non-Muslims in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; 96.4% of Pakistanis are Muslims, if you believe such absurd figures. In 2010, Bibi was convicted of blasphemy and has spent much of the past eight years in solitary confinement. The conviction stems from an argument over Bibi drinking water from a well reserved for Muslims; apparently the mere act of a Christian drinking from the well made the water ‘haram’ (forbidden) to Muslims. Ridiculous, childish superstition you will doubtless agree but on the strength of these accusations, Bibi was convicted and sentenced to death.

 

After eight years of solitary confinement, Asia Bibi’s conviction for a non-crime has been quashed by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.  This has resulted in violent protests across Pakistan and a bounty of 50million rupees ($375,000 USD) has been put on her head. The Islamist-fascist political party Tehreek-e-Labaik has even called for the death of the three judges who dismissed Bibi’s conviction. So much for democracy and due process.

 

This case gives the lie to the belief that the West is uniquely wicked and ‘racist.’ Pakistan is the sixth worst country to be a Christian in the world according to a report in Pakistan’s Express Tribune…

 

 

Not only is it dangerous to be a Christian or Hindu in Pakistan, but it is also dangerous to be the wrong type of Muslim. Ordinance XX of the Constitution of Pakistan forbids Ahmadi Muslims from calling themselves Muslims, calling their places of worship mosques and forbids them from using any titles or modes of address deemed specific to Muslims. Some readers may remember the case of Asad Shah, a Glasgow shopkeeper murdered by an Islamist extremist for wishing his customers a ‘Happy Easter.’

 

Again, I am drawing no particular conclusions – I will leave that to you. However, if the mad ruling by the ECtHR stands then it is inevitable that ‘blasphemy’ will be used as a cudgel by the most violent, the most bigoted of religious believers to silence all and any criticism of their ideology.