“They need to be executed so humans know that you cannot insult the religion of Allah.” AJ Ahwar “criticised Islam for not accepting other religions and minorities such as homosexuals and Hazaras, a Shia minority in Afghanistan.” And so he must die, if they catch him. I hope he is in hiding and will be able to escape from Afghanistan and come to the U.S., where no one will try to murder him or even call for his death if he criticizes Islam for “not accepting other religions and minorities such as homosexuals and Hazaras, a Shia minority in Afghanistan.” Instead, they will just call him a bigot, a racist, and an Islamophobe, and seek to get him demonized and marginalized out of the public discourse.
“Afghan newspaper’s ‘blasphemy’ causes protests after rebuking Isis and Islam,” by Sune Engel Rasmussen, The Guardian, October 24, 2014 (thanks to Twostellas):
A newspaper columnist condemning Islamic State (Isis) and the Taliban triggered demonstrations in several Afghan cities on Friday, with protesters denouncing the article as blasphemous and calling on the government to punish the publication.
In Kabul, a crowd of approximately 500 people, including clerics and several members of parliament, gathered in front of the Eid Gah Mosque, the city’s second largest house of worship.
“The government must stop the people who insulted the prophet, the Qur’an and Islam, and prevent them from leaving the country,” said Fazl Hadi Wazin, an Islamic scholar at Salam University who spoke from the outdoor podium.
In an opinion piece published last week in the English-language daily the Afghanistan Express, a journalist named AJ Ahwar admonished Muslims for remaining silent in the face of Isis and the Taliban.
He also criticised Islam for not accepting other religions and minorities such as homosexuals and Hazaras, a Shia minority in Afghanistan.
The article ended by concluding that human beings are more important than God, which seemed to particularly incense protesters.
“The newspaper said God can’t control people and that God is unwise,” said Mangal Bader, 38, one of the protesters. He joined others in calling for the newspaper staff to suffer the same fate as five men who were recently convicted of rape and hanged, after great public furore.
“They need to be executed so humans know that you cannot insult the religion of Allah,” said Ahmad, 22, another protester.
In pauses between speakers, protesters chanted “death to America”. According to one demonstrator, the US instils ideas of freedom of expression in the minds of Afghan journalists, then grants them asylum once they anger their compatriots.
“The international community pretend to be heroes of freedom of expression,” said Wazin after his speech. “They have to come out and say they are not behind this. If they don’t, these protests will grow.”
In a public apology issued days after the controversial article, the Afghanistan Express explained that the op-ed was published due to a “technical mistake”. The apology, however, has done little to quell the anger….
What a surprise.