Worth three years in the slammer?
Sanity in Belarus, yes, but note that Reuters continues the increasingly common practice of referring to the “Prophet Muhammad,” as if his prophetic status is a universally accepted truth. Imagine the outcry if they published a story referring to “the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” with a similar lack of qualifiers.
An update on this story. “Belarus court frees Mohammad cartoon publisher,” by Andrei Makhovsky for Reuters (thanks to Jammie Wearing Fool):
MINSK (Reuters) – Belarus’s Supreme Court on Friday freed an editor jailed for reproducing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, one of three detainees whose release is seen by the West as key to improving ties with the ex-Soviet state.
Alexander Sdvizhkov, editor of the independent Zgoda (consensus) newspaper, was jailed for three years last month. He was freed after Belarus’s Supreme Court reduced his sentence to three months.
“The Supreme Court backed the appeal and, based on health and humanitarian considerations, reduced the sentence to three months,” said court spokeswoman Anastasia Tsimanovich. “Given the time spent in detention, he was released.”