Four of the Bangladeshi atheist bloggers have been charged with “defaming Islam” and other bullshit, and could get seven years in prison if they’re convicted, AFP reports.
Judge Zahirul Haque, sitting in a court in the capital Dhaka, said the bloggers were being charged under the country’s Internet laws, senior public prosecutor Shah Alam Talukdar told AFP.
“They have been indicted… with defaming Islam, the Prophet Mohammed and other religions through their Internet writings. They spread malice against all religions,” he said.
What can one say? That should never be a crime. It was normal to treat it as a crime all over Europe a few centuries ago, but we should have learned better by now. Learning better is a ratchet, and it’s shareable and universalizable, so “defaming” religions should never be treated as a crime. Religion should be voluntary.
The government has said it is determined to ensure communal harmony in the deeply conservative country where 90 percent people are Muslims.
Oh yes, “communal harmony,” meaning, everyone does what the majority demands.
If Yahweh or Allah or Ganesh have been insulted, then they should be the ones giving out punishments. According to the propaganda they’re omnipotent, so an accurately cast lightning bolt would deter blasphemers. Oh wait, they don’t actually do anything, which is why self-appointed anti-blasphemy police need to act to “protect” the sensibilities of the faithful.
Very sad to hear their plight. Yes, I wish blasphemy and other forms of nonconformity to religious norms was left to be punished directly by the insulted gods.
They only go one step further than every religion then. Every religion spreads malice against every other religion. They say- perfectly truthfully, indeed, the only they tell- that every other religion is false and their followers deluded.
Senior public prosecutor Shah Alam Talukdar told AFP that ‘they spread malice against all religions,… What I can’t seem to fathom, is: if ”the deeply conservative country where 90 percent of the people are Muslims, why then in god’s name is the prosecutor worried about the atheist bloggers spreading malice against ALL religions. I was always of the impression that other religions were to be derided, as their worshippers are seen as infidels, who must be severely punished at every hands turn.. Why is the prosecutor so protective of other religions? Is it because those on trial are atheists, and religion per se is being employed to nail them?
Indeed, M-T O’L, that prosecutor should be prosecuted and harshly punished for negligence of duty to the one and only Potentate over the 90%. Maybe engage the Pepper-Spray Cop of Berkeley fame? Just my opinion, mind 😉