As some of you may have heard already, there's a 23 year old Saudi journalist who's on the run after he made some tweets which many Muslims interpreted as insults of their prophet Muhammad. Most of them are demanding the death penalty, others say he should be prosecuted and whatever judgment the court makes would be accepted, and only a few people seem to be defending him. One of his colleagues wrote an article (which has been deleted, as I have just checked) where he defended Hamza Kashgari, saying that the man has apologized for whatever he wrote on twitter, and that supposing he made a mistake, he should be helped and guided, not killed.. a pretty gentle and diplomatic demand, which was met by scorn, anger, and some people in the comments section even responded that the writer of the article should be prosecuted himself..
Now seeing all of this you'd think that Hamza Kashgari must be some atheist who wrote outright insults of Muhammad, which would still not justify the reaction in light of our modern perception of human rights and freedom of expression, but would make it more understandable.. well, that's not the case: Hamza Kashrgari did not renounce his Islamic faith, and he even apologized.. also there's nothing particularly insulting in his tweets written on the Mawlid, the birthday of Muhammad (my translations below)..
From top to bottom:
- On your birthday I will say that I loved the rebel in you, who has always inspired me, but I didn't like the halo of sacredness, I won't pray for you..
- On your birthday I see you wherever I turn my face, I will say that I liked some things about you, other things I did not like.. and other ones I did not understand!
- On your birthday, I will not bow down to you, I will not kiss your hand, I will shake your hand like an equal, and smile to you as you smile to me, and speak to you like a friend.. no more..
I personally see more praise here than criticism, and certainly no insult in whatever form... even though I don't think Muhammad deserves any praise or respect.. he was a pedophile and a war criminal, though he made a great job in unifying the many divided and warmongering Arab tribes of the desert under one banner, and channeled their energy and hatred towards invading and plundering the nearby populations.. and I can back up my position with many accounts and passages from their very holy books... (here and here for example)
Last news, it seems that Hamza Kashgari was arrested in Malaysia and may be deported to Saudi Arabia.. there's a good chance he would face the death penalty..
Several sites, including this one, have reported that he has been arrested with the help of the Interpol. If this is true, it would be an infringement on Article 3 of the Interpol's Constitution, stating that the Interpol shall remain neutral on matters concerning international politics, religion, race, etc.
Neutrality is, and always has been, paramount to INTERPOL. As an international organization with a unique mandate, namely to prevent and fight crime through enhanced international police cooperation, it is of the utmost importance that INTERPOL’s activities transcend domestic and international politics.
Article 3 of INTERPOL’s Constitution enshrines this guiding principle of neutrality by explicitly forbidding INTERPOL from engaging in matters of political, military, religious and racial character.
......
Deriving from those Resolutions and their implementation in INTERPOL’s practice throughout the years, the primary objectives of Article 3 may be defined as follows:
- To ensure the independence and neutrality of INTERPOL as an international organisation;
- To reflect international extradition law;
- To protect individuals from persecution.
One of the most absurd things about Islamic law in Saudi Arabia, which I have come to know only recently, is that if you defame the name of Allah, you are given three days to repent, and if you do repent your life would be spared.. but if you defame the name of the prophet, you would face the death penalty even if you repent and ask for forgiveness.. is Muhammad somehow holier than Allah in Islam?
0 comments:
Post a Comment