In the enlightened West, we do not yet imprison people for insulting Islam. We are far too broad-minded and committed to the freedom of speech for that. Instead, we just excoriate opponents of jihad mass murder as racist, bigoted “Islamophobes,” intent on “poking Muslims in the eye,” and we shun them in all polite circles. Everyone — government, media, Church, etc. — knows this is the right thing to do, that submission to Sharia blasphemy laws is the way to keep the peace.
“Court jails Egyptian female writer for insulting Islam,” AFP, January 26, 2016:
An Egyptian court jailed Tuesday a female writer for three years for insulting Islam after she criticised the slaughter of animals during a major religious festival, a judicial official said.
Fatima Naoot went on trial last year after she wrote “Happy Massacre” on her Facebook page in October 2014 during Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice.
On Tuesday, a Cairo court found her guilty of having “insulted Islam” and sentenced her to three years in jail. She was also ordered to pay a fine of 2,000 Egyptian pounds ($255, 235 euros).
“I’m not sad about the sentencing as I don’t care about going to jail. I’m sad that the efforts of reformists have been wasted,” Naoot told AFP.
Her lawyer said he would appeal the sentence.
Animals are slaughtered during Eid to commemorate the willingness of prophet Abraham to fulfil God’s command to sacrifice his own son, although in the end God provided him with a sheep.
“Annual massacre observed because of a nightmare of one (prophet) about his son… ,” Naoot, who is a Muslim, wrote on her Facebook page at the time.
“Although the nightmare has passed for the prophet and his son, each year helpless animals pay with their lives the price of this sacred nightmare,” she wrote in Arabic….