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Tunisian blogger jailed for mocking Islam

Feb 7, 2014 10:34 am By Robert Spencer

Mejri

The freedom of speech is our fundamental bulwark against tyranny. And it is under assault by entities in the U.S. such as the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Reza Aslan’s Aslan Media, which, like the Tunisian government here, move quickly to shut down any criticism of Islam, including simply criticism of jihad violence, Sharia oppression of women, etc. And with the President of the United States saying that “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam,” if Americans don’t wake up to this effort, before too long we will be seeing stories like this involving Americans. “Tunisian Blogger Jailed for Mocking Islam,” from infoZine, February 7:

Tunisian authorities should mark the celebration of the country’s new constitution on February 7, 2014, by immediately quashing the sentences of anyone convicted under laws that violate human rights, Human Rights Watch said.

One of these is Jaber Mejri, a blogger imprisoned since 2012 for publishing caricatures deemed insulting to Islam. Many foreign heads of state and officials, including the President François Hollande of France, will attend the ceremony.

On March 28, 2012, the First Instance Criminal Court of Mahdia sentenced Mejri and another blogger, Ghazi Beji, to seven-and-half years in prison for harming “public order or good morals” and “insulting others through public communication networks.” Beji fled and became the first Tunisian to gain political asylum in France since the 2011 revolution. Mejri is in Mahdia prison. The courts of appeal and cassation confirmed the lower court ruling. President Moncef Marzouki has the authority to pardon Mejri and should, Human Rights Watch said.

“Tunisia’s new constitution has bold protections for freedom of speech and freedom of conscience,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Mejri’s sentence violates his freedom of speech, and the government should celebrate the new day in Tunisia by freeing him.”

Mejri wrote satirically about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad and reprinted crude caricatures of the prophet from an essay by Beji.

InfoZine, like the entire mainstream media, seems to think that we’re all Muslims now, and all accept Muhammad as a prophet.

The new constitution has a provision that makes the state “the protector of religion” and requires it to prohibit “offenses to the sacred.” However, Tunisia should not negate the clear right in article 31 to “freedom of opinion, thought, expression, information and publication.” Article 49 states that authorities may restrict public freedoms only if those restrictions are allowed by law and are “necessary to a civil and democratic state and with the aim of protecting the rights of others, or based on the requirements of public order, national defense, public health or public morals, and provided there is proportionality between these restrictions and the objective sought.”

The United Nations Human Rights Committee considers it a violation of the right to freedom of expression, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, when countries impose “prohibitions of demonstrations of lack of respect for a religion or other system of belief, including blasphemy laws.”

Marzouki, speaking during a conference organized by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in September 2013, appeared to imply Mejri’s imprisonment was for his own safety because of a violent response to the blogs by Islamic extremists and that he would free Merji when the situation cooled down. “Now be sure that I’m just waiting… for the political good moment,” Marzouki said.

Tunisia’s interim governing authorities made important strides toward the consolidation of human rights since the overthrow of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, through a constitutional drafting process that culminated in the adoption of the constitution on January 26. They have repealed repressive laws on associations, political parties, and the press. However, they have yet to modify the penal code provisions that provide prison terms for defamation and such vaguely worded offenses as harming “public morals” and “public order,” and have continued to apply these provisions to prosecute speech considered objectionable. Courts have applied these provisions to convict people who spoke out on religious or politically issues peacefully….

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Filed Under: free speech, Sharia, Tunisia


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Comments

  1. Charli Main says

    Feb 7, 2014 at 12:00 pm

    Freedom of speech is not under attack in Britain. The Muslims have already fought and won this war.
    ANY criticism of Islam or Muslims in Britain will lead to the British police arresting you for “incitement to religious or racial hatred”.
    Of course, this is one way traffic. The Muslims are completely free to rant and rave about the British infidels and preach hate and murder, without fear of any reprisals from the British authorities.
    Amjam Choudray and his Muslim ilk, openly preach the destruction of Britain and its non Muslims citizens and guess what ??? That’s right the British police skulk off and look the other way.
    The most important law prevalent in Britain today is–
    DON´T UPSET THE MUSLIMS.

    • Defcon 4 says

      Feb 7, 2014 at 1:52 pm

      “incitement to religious or racial hatred”, kinda strange that all the holey books of islam are full of rabid Jew hatred, yet it goes ignored. I guess some kind of religious hatred is acceptable.

  2. tjhawk says

    Feb 7, 2014 at 12:29 pm

    Annoy a jihadi today!

    A good truth based mocking of islam should be a goal every day. Put things on blogs, facebook, twitter, or any other means of communication. Say things in gatherings. Go to the Dearborn islamfest wearing funny, mocking T-shirts.

    One I like to use is:

    The Profiteer Mohammed (PBUHV) and his Sock Puppet Allah.
    PBUHV = Peace Be Upon His Victims

    Mock Mohammed or Islam today and everyday.

    • tjhawk says

      Feb 7, 2014 at 12:33 pm

      The previous comment made it seem that I have worn a Profiteer Mohammed T-shirt in Dearborn. I have not done that. I just like to say that once in awhile amongst some of my friends.

      • Defcon 4 says

        Feb 7, 2014 at 1:54 pm

        I don’t have to wonder what would happen to anyone who was to wear such a t-shirt in Dearbornistan. But would it be the authorities doing it? Or just your average Jihad Joe in the street?

  3. mortimer says

    Feb 7, 2014 at 12:54 pm

    the uk must dump the public order act. it s too open to abuse and a tyrannical pm.

  4. gravenimage says

    Feb 9, 2014 at 12:09 am

    Tunisian blogger jailed for mocking Islam
    ……………………

    The story immediately before this one on Jihad Watch is about the staff of a satirical paper in Turkey faces charges of “Insulting Religions” (the only religion in question, of course, is Islam).

    All over the world, we are finding this Islamic crushing of freedom of speech.

    More:

    Tunisian authorities should mark the celebration of the country’s new constitution on February 7, 2014, by immediately quashing the sentences of anyone convicted under laws that violate human rights, Human Rights Watch said.

    One of these is Jaber Mejri, a blogger imprisoned since 2012 for publishing caricatures deemed insulting to Islam. Many foreign heads of state and officials, including the President François Hollande of France, will attend the ceremony.
    ……………………

    *Sickening*. Doesn’t Hollande realize what he is “celebrating”? On the other hand, since he is urging the French to reject their own civilized heritage in order to “embrace Arabness”—i.e., the barbarism of Islam—perhaps he knows all too well…

    More:

    Marzouki, speaking during a conference organized by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in September 2013, appeared to imply Mejri’s imprisonment was for his own safety because of a violent response to the blogs by Islamic extremists and that he would free Merji when the situation cooled down. “Now be sure that I’m just waiting… for the political good moment,” Marzouki said.
    ……………………

    Grotesque—you don’t *imprison the victim*. Besides, were this true he could have just let Mejri flee the country as Beji did.

    More:

    Tunisia’s interim governing authorities made important strides toward the consolidation of human rights since the overthrow of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, through a constitutional drafting process that culminated in the adoption of the constitution on January 26. They have repealed repressive laws on associations, political parties, and the press.
    ……………………

    The above can mean anything—it may actually just make it easier for violent Jihadists to operate openly, and may not actually be an improvement in human rights at all.

    More:

    However, they have yet to modify the penal code provisions that provide prison terms for defamation and such vaguely worded offenses as harming “public morals” and “public order,” and have continued to apply these provisions to prosecute speech considered objectionable. Courts have applied these provisions to convict people who spoke out on religious or politically issues peacefully….
    ……………………

    “Have yet to”—that is assuming that they ever plan to do so—a big “if”…

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