He got this draconian sentence largely because “police found an old and faded copy of the Koran with one of its pages ripped – something considered as an attack against Islam.”
Will defenders of human rights in the West speak out against this manifest injustice? Or would that be “Islamophobic”?
“Algeria hands activist Yacine Mebarki 10 years jail for ‘inciting atheism’: NGO,” AFP, October 8, 2020:
An Algerian court on Thursday handed a key member of the Hirak anti-government protest movement a 10-year prison sentence for “inciting atheism”, a rights group said.
Yacine Mebarki was also found guilty of “offending Islam” and fined 10 million dinars ($77,400), Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian Human Rights League.
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Salhi said he was “shocked by such a heavy verdict against a citizen who only expressed his opinion online.”
The sentence was the longest given to a member of the Hirak, the popular anti-government movement that led demonstrations that pushed president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power last year.
At the start of the trial, the prosecution demanded Mebarki be jailed for eight years.
But in a rare move, the judge at the Khenchela court in eastern Algeria decided to add two more years to that term.
Mebarki denied any wrongdoing and would appeal, Salhi said.
The 52-year-old activist had been arrested on September 30 during a raid at his home.
According to a friend, the police found an old and faded copy of the Koran with one of its pages ripped – something considered as an attack against Islam.
Salhi said Mebarki had been convicted of inciting atheism and “offending Islam” as well as inciting discrimination and hatred….
DavidR says
This smells of “setting an example”. It’s government terrorism against it’s own citizens. The charges sound Orwellian. How can a person “incite” atheism anymore than they can incite science, for example. “Offending Islam” is as stupid as it sounds but if I say more Islam might kill itself.
Hnest Ali says
It will. Islam implodes at the slightest question or criticism. Why do you think there is the death penalty for leaving? It is the ONLY reason Islam is still around to make people miserable.
tim gallagher says
This mentality in Muslim countries is so primitive and dopey. Some people believe in a God, some people don’t believe in a God. Maybe one day they will believe in a God or maybe not. In any civilised country people should be free to follow their conscience and be sincere and speak up about what they genuinely believe to be the truth. As for this case, they are obviously going after an activist. A torn page in an old copy of the Koran. Talk about an unjust decision based on completely ludicrous grounds. These countries are so backward and so completely inhumane.
Keith O says
10 years for a torn page in a Koran?
Makes me wonder what would have happened if he had used it for it’s real purpose as toilet paper?
Jaydam says
He would of been sentenced to life without any possibility of parole 😉
gravenimage says
Algeria: Man gets 10 years prison for ‘inciting atheism’ and ‘offending Islam’
……………..
Ah–the “ripped Qur’an” ploy again.
Yacine Mebarki is an activist involved in the Hirak anti-government protest movement–this is clearly what this is all about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Algerian_protests
All regimes in the Muslim world want to portray their political opponents as “atheist” and “offending Islam”.
underbed cat says
Thanks for reference to wikipedia, about Algeria, it lays out dates and consistent protests that look familiar lately, like the leftist in cities that experienced it in the U.S…..as they gather, to protest police, a tiggered event used in every in many terror attacks in a country as a first step to create a defenseless public, with signs, of racism,fists,breaking windows, defunding police, triggered by a event not waiting for facts, chanting, road blocking and a clueless sympathy crowd stirred with perceived injustice. A boarded downtown remains with plywood and painted hearts, flowers fooled most have no idea what is happening or it’s step one in a leftist /islamic overthrow.
gravenimage says
underbed cat, I don’t know whether these protest groups would be better than the current government of Algeria or not–it is hard to find any information on their precise views. Sometimes in the Muslim world there are no good guys.
My main point is that his being an activist is almost certainly why Mebarki was targeted and charged with this iffy “crime” in the first place.
Chrissie01 says
I lived in Algeria, off and on, a few years, with my (Muslim) ex. (until 2004)
It was and is a totalitarian bleak hell hole, corrupt, fanatic, run-down, ugly…
People lazy, corrupt, aggressive, mean and cruel, to humans and animals. And fanatic.
In 2006, the so-called anti-proselytization act came into force. It banned all Christian congregations of less than 100 and demanded that each service must be announced and permitted.
The first case that I heard of was a Christian going to jail for 5 years for giving his Muslim neighbor a bible. Many cases followed.
It is a totalitarian atmosphere that does not allow you to breathe. Nothing prospers. Nothing advances. Not even the wonderful Mediterranean Sea seems joyful. It is a soul-dead stretch of territory.
I keep trying to explain to my fellow-Europeans what will expect them if they allow this to prosper here. Nobody seems to have the imagination to visualize the horror. Some reply downright that I am lying. Or that I am misinformed…by God.
They have no idea what’s coming. Many in the US obviously neither.
Jaydam says
A harrowing description you paint Chrissie01.
And it beggars belief that so many people in “The West” are in total ignorance, and have their heads buried in the sand when it comes to what lies ahead, if this backward fascist excuse for a religion becomes more and more domineering and demanding. ( which it will )
And whats even worse is the lefts complicity in it all, which i believe is solely for the purpose of increasing their vote share at future elections. As they have realised over the last few decades that most of their ( blue collar / working class voters ) have seen through all their lies, and are deserting them in droves.
Its what happened during the general election in December, 2019 in the U.K – over whether to stay in or leave the European Union. When the left were totally destroyed by their lies, when many of their core voters switched to the Conservatives, in order to make sure the U.K left the European Union once and for all.
gravenimage says
Chrissie, thanks so much for that background.
Glad you got out.
mortimer says
Godless communists should reconsider their support for Islam.
Islam is even MORE opposed to atheism than it is to polytheism!
Stalin realized that Islam was an ideology in competition with communism.
FYI says
Too true.
After all, lefties,being infidels,are classified as ‘THE WORST OF CREATED BEINGS'{koran 98:6} alongside all non-muslims.
islam and atheism{or communism} cannot co-exist.
It always impresses me if muslims become ex-muslims which is not easy given islam has a DEATH PENALTY for ‘apostasy’.many describe themselves as atheists or free thinkers:well,that is better than staying in islam.
Ex-muslims who become Christians really impress me and it shows you how there are perfectly good people in the islamic world but it is their religion that is the cause of the problem,not because they happen to be muslims.
A reasonable atheist is much better than a fanatical muslim.
There are two types of atheist{in my experience as having once been an atheist}
1.Reasonable{not militant and not necessarily anti-theist}
2.Unreasonanble{usually militant and anti-theist}
A Reasonable atheist would see the futility of trying to ban all religions or dismissing all religious experience as worthless and would also be sensible enough to differentiate the authentic vision of Christianity represented by Jesus Christ from say,that of phoney clergymen.
Rational and reasonable.
An Unreasonable atheist is most likely antitheist{especially the militant atheist} and not even rational and frequently obnoxious:i know because I had to deal with them when I was an atheist.The ridiculous,sophist arguments of the angry militant atheist.
Irrational and unreasonable.
A dislike of organized religion is perfectly understandable but one has to look at the core teachings of any religion to be fair.
FYI says
A torn page in allah’s ‘perfect’ book=”something considered as an attack on islam”
What about spilling coffee on it,sneezing on it,using it as a fly swat?
Would that be an ‘attack on islam’?
Let me guess.Death penalty?
The koran is a plagiarized Arabian book of fiction that tells us the Moon was split in two{koran 54:1 WHEN allah,DO tell us?},Mary is in the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity{koran 5:116:ludicrously wrong}the Jews believe in somebody called ‘Ezra is the son of allah’ {koran 9:30:wrong.They don’t}and Jesus was given the Gospel by allah{who wrote it himself of course koran 5:46:except the Gospel came AFTER the time of Jesus..}and you know Abraham who is a key figure of Judaism and who is listed in the Genealogy of Jesus Christ{who is Jewish John 4 v 22}and thus must have been connected with the Jews?
Well according to allah that Key{JEWISH} prophet of Judaism..isn’t Jewish.
“Abraham was not a Jew” {koran 3:67}
Because if he was a Jew he would be ‘hated and despised’ koran 2:65 so in islam Abraham the Jew{in Biblical reality} becomes ibrahim the muslim{in koranic fantasy}
well you cannot argue with the koran can you?
allah is the god who gets everything wrong:Science,Theology,History,the Jews,what christians believe etc
The HOLEY koran is not worth the paper it is written on as it can be seen to be demonstrably false.