"Latif was accused of making derogatory remarks about Muhammad...."

Muhammed is a weenie!

I'd love to say that right in front of that "judge's" face.

Posted by: darcy at June 18, 2008 10:15 AM

These guys are so stupid, they'll probably first enforce the death penalty on the poor guy and then stand around scratching their asses and heads (interchangeable parts with this tribe) wondering what went wrong with their plan and their wonderful Islamic "jurisprudence."

God, what insufferable arrogance.

Posted by: undaunted at June 18, 2008 10:33 AM

Why is the "west" so blind to this?

Posted by: sadatoni at June 18, 2008 10:33 AM

A true dishonour to the name 'Rumi', this judge.

Posted by: Funky Child at June 18, 2008 12:03 PM

wheres the nearest paki embassy so i can go insult there pervert robber and wannabe profit they cant arest someone on usa soil or do it by email ambassador@embassyofpakistanusa.org
http://www.embassyofpakistanusa.org/keyofficers.php

Posted by: crusader at June 18, 2008 12:48 PM

Remember the Archbishop of Canterbury's claims that Shari'ah "is inevitable" in Britain? Well, this is what that would look like--this, and amputations for petty theft, the hanging of homosexuals, and the stoning of rape victims.

Oh, not all at once. For awhile, the laws would only apply to Muslims, and only if both parties agreed. Then, there would be growing pressure on all Muslims to accept Shari'ah rulings.

Then, blasphemy laws would be extended to non-Muslims--this basically already exists, under European and Canadian "hate-crime" laws. But don't worry, at first, they would just be fined, or imprisoned--you know, like that Finnish blogger, or Gregorious Nekschot, the Dutch cartoonist, or Brigitte Bardot in France, or Mark Steyn in Canada.

Why, we probably won't have to worry about actual executions for blasphemy for--well--a decade or two! Nothing to worry about here.

Also, keep in mind--as horrifying as the spectacle of a man facing execution for "blasphemy" is--that these charges are very often trumped up, especially in the cases of Christians or other religious minorities. In many cases you find that the accuser had a disagreement with the accused, or wanted his land, or his business, or to "marry" his daughter. In Nigeria, there have been several cases of Muslim students accusing their Christian teachers of blasphemy when the teacher tried to discipline them.

What better way of getting what you want than accusing someone of blasphemy? I don't know how these people live with themselves.

At least AP had the decency to refer to "Islam's Prophet Muhammad", for once. I only hope there can be enough international pressure to save Shafeeq Latif's life. I think that's why he was also hugely fined and sentenced to life in prison--plan b.

Posted by: gravenimage at June 18, 2008 4:50 PM

Didn't a Finnish guy go to jail in Finland for two years recently for insulting Mohammad?

It's already happening in Europe.

Posted by: Voltaire at June 18, 2008 8:15 PM

gravenimage:

You're spot on about the insidious nature of unwanted change. It's the Communist way. If things change slowly enough then they seem less of a threat because you hardly notice them. Then you wake up one day and wonder what the hell has happened.

This creeping change is how the EU has come about and has evolved to be what it is today. Much more is planned for us though. At the outset it was a sort of cosy club to assist trade between a small number of independent European nations. This is what we were told in the UK when we joined in 1973.

Now the EU has 27 member countries and the plan is to force political union on them. We're going to have an EU president and an EU foreign minister, and EU laws will become binding in the member states. The Irish voted last week to reject the latest EU treaty - which means that it cannot be ratified - but just you watch as it is steamrollered through regardless.

The EU Communists are ambivalent about Islam. If anything they see Muslims as ideal Communists because the global ummah transcends nation states.

Posted by: watling at June 19, 2008 7:10 AM

You're spot on about the insidious nature of unwanted change... If things change slowly enough then they seem less of a threat because you hardly notice them. Then you wake up one day and wonder what the hell has happened. --watling

You've just described the gradual totalitarian progression in Orwell's "Animal Farm."

Posted by: darcy at June 19, 2008 10:53 AM

Kind of like the witch hunts, right? Somebody gets crossways with a guy who has influence/power, and next thing you know, he's "denounced", often for something totally unprovable. "Find somebody to be the scapegoat" seems to be a big part of Middle East culture, right?

Posted by: A_Nonny_Mouse at June 20, 2008 7:54 PM