Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide

by Paul Marshall

  92. Augustine Anthony, “Militants Say Killed Pakistani Minister for Blasphemy,” Reuters, March 2, 2011; Nahal Toosi and Chris Brummit, “Militants Kill Sole Christian Minister in Pakistan,: AP, March 2, 2011; see “Blasphemer Attacked in Pakistan.”

  93. Ahmad, “Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws.” The BBC suggests that with respect to blasphemy, “Hundreds of people have been lynched since the mid-1980s”; see “Blasphemer Attacked in Pakistan.”

  94. Sabrina Tavernise, “At Top University, a Fight for Pakistan’s Future,” New York Times, April 20, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/world/asia/21university.html.

  95. Christian Caryl, “A Eulogy for Pakistan,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 16, 2011, http://www.rferl.org/content/pakistan_bhatti_washington/2340390.html; Lela Gilbert, “Pakistan and Blasphemy: A Matter of Life and Death,” Jerusalem Post, April 21, 2011, http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=217432; Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan press release, “Pakistani and US Leaders Urge Tolerance, Harmony in Minister Shahbaz Bhatti Memorial Service at the Embassy,” March 10, 2011, http://www.embassyofpakistanusa.org/news474_03102011.php

  Chapter 6

  1. Kevin Sullivan, “A Body and Spirit Broken by the Taliban,” Washington Post, January 5, 2002.

  2. Alastair Leithead, “Anger over ‘Blasphemous’ Balls,” BBC News, August 26, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6964564.stm.

  3. Agence France Presse (AFP), “Afghan Demands Apology for Football ‘Insult,’” Khaleej Times Online, September 8, 2007, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmafp/is_200709/ai_n19507629/.

  4. Amir Shah, “Afghanistan Imposes Death Penalty for Conversion from Islam,” Associated Press (AP), January 8, 2001. In June 2001, this provision was amended so that foreigners caught proselytizing would be detained for three to ten days and then deported. See also Barbara G. Baker, “Taliban Refuse International Access to Jailed Christians,” Compass Direct News, August 24, 2001, http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=563&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Afghanistan&rowcur=0.

  5. Kathy Gannon, “Workers in Afghanistan Fear Backlash,” AP via The Washington Post Online, August 7, 2001; Amir Shah, “Afghanistan Imposes Death Penalty.” Compass Direct News referred to the staff as SNI employees, but the Washington Times says it was not clear whether Shelter Germany, which directly employed them, was really, as its Web site claimed, a branch of SNI.

  6. Baker, “Taliban Refuse International Access to Jailed Christians”; Pamela Constable, “We Are All Good Muslims,” Washington Post, August 24, 2001, http://imgs.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/24/MN50203.DTL&hw=mohamed&sn=261&sc=036; Barbara G. Baker, “Jailed Christians Left Isolated in Afghanistan,” Compass Direct News, September 18, 2001, http://www.hrwf.net/religiousfreedom/news/afghanistan2001.html#KabulcourttoresumeChristianstrial; Kathy Gannon, “UN Seeks Afghan Aid Workers Release,” AP via Washington Post Online, August 8, 2001.

  7. Barry Bearak, “Afghans Shut Offices of 2 More Christian Relief Groups,” New York Times, September 1, 2001, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06EED61030F932A3575AC0A9679C8B63; Kathy Gannon, “Expelled Aid Workers Leave Beleaguered Capital,” AP, September 1, 2001; Roger Boyes and Zahid Hussain, “Aid Groups Ousted in Purge of Christians,” The Times (London), September 7, 2001; Kathy Gannon, “Afghan Aid Workers of Banned Christian Group Arrested,” AP, September 9, 2001.

  8. Amir Zia, “Foreign Aid Workers’ Trial to Reopen Saturday in Kabul,” AP, September 27, 2001, http://www.boston.com/news/daily/27/aid_worker.htm; Molly Moore, “From Agony to Anxiety, Then Freedom,” Washington Post, November 16, 2001, http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/from.htm; Christopher Torchia, “Eight Foreign Aid Workers Held in Afghanistan Airlifted to Freedom by U.S. Special Forces Helicopters,” AP, November 15, 2001.

  9. “Five Afghan Christians Martyred,” Compass Direct News, September 9, 2004, http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=208&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Afghanistan&rowcur=0.

  10. N. C. Aizenman, “Prominent Afghan Clerics Targeted by Taliban, Authorities Say,” Washington Post, August 3, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201737_pf.html; “Afghanistan,” Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2007, U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 11, 2008, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100611.htm.

  11. Choe Sang-Hun, “Deal Is Set to Free Korean Hostages,” International Herald Tribune, August 29, 2007; Fisnik Abrashi, “Taliban Threaten to Kill 18 Abducted South Korean Christians in Afghanistan,” AP, July 21, 2007, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taliban-threaten-to-kill-18-abducted-isouth-korean-christians-in-afghanistan-458079.html; Lee Jong-Heon, “Analysis: Seoul Striving to Free Hostages,” UPI, July 23, 2007.

  12. “Afghanistan: Constitution Threatens to Institutionalize ‘Taliban-lite,’” U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom press release, November 4, 2003, http://www.uscirf.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1473. The commission was referring to a draft of the constitution, but the relevant articles remained in the final version. See also Paul Marshall, “Taliban Lite,” National Review Online, November 7, 2003. Article 2 says: “Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of the law.” However, this protects only “rites,” not rights, and almost no religion requires only the practice of rites. Also, the provision “within the limits of the provisions of the law” allows restrictions on even this limited guarantee.

  13. Patrick Goodenough, “Trial of Afghan Convert Emphasizes Need for Judicial Reform,” Cybercast News Service, March 22, 2006, http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/daily-news-article/trial_of_afghan_convert_emphasizes_need_for_judicial_reform/.

  14. Alex Spillius, “Afghans to Carry on Stoning Criminals,” Telegraph (U.K.), January 24, 2002, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1382687/Afghans-to-carry-on-stoning-criminals.html; J. Alexander Their, “The Crescent and the Gavel,” New York Times, March 26, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/opinion/26thier.html.

  15. Nina Shea, “Sharia in Kabul?” National Review, October 28, 2002, http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=publication_details&id=4607.

  16. Kim Barker, “At the Supreme Court, an Unlikely New Hero,” Chicago Tribune, January 21, 2007, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0701210351jan21,0,7944559.story.

  17. “Afghanistan,” Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2007.

  18. “Afghanistan Seizes Illegal Images of Prophet,” Reuters, March 11, 2003; “Supreme Court Bans Sale of Religious Posters,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via IPR Strategic Business Information Database, March 18, 2003.

  19. “Afghanistan Seizes Illegal Images of Prophet.”

  20. Paul Wiseman, “Pop Culture Views with Conservatism in Afghanistan,” USA Today, June 6, 2008, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-05-afghanmedia_N.htm; “TOLO TV, a Station Fighting Ignorance,” Reporters Without Borders, December 7, 2005, http://tolo.tv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=117&Itemid=42; “Afghanistan Pulls Cable Channels,” BBC, November 11, 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertain-ment/4003139.stm; Saad Mohseni, “Pressing for Freedom,” Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2007; “Afghan Defiance over Indian Soaps,” BBC, April 15, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7348389.stm.

  21. “Afghan Preacher Accuses Authorities of Ignoring ‘Blasphemous’ Iranian Books,” Tolo TV via BBC Monitoring International Reports, May 18, 2008.

  22. “Afghanistan,” Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2007.

  23. Ibid. See also USCIRFAnnual Report, May 2008, http://www.uscirf.gov/images/AR2008/annual%20report%202008-entire%20document.pdf.

  24. Daniel Cooney, “Afghan Christian Could Get Death Sentence,” AP via Boston.com, March 19, 2006, http://
www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/03/19/afghan_man_prosecuted_for_converting/; Barbara G. Baker, “More Christians Arrested in Wake of Afghan ‘Apostasy’ Case,” Compass Direct News, March 22, 2006, http://www.crosswalk.com/1385441/; Maria Sanminiatelli, “Afghan Christian Given Asylum in Italy,” AP, March 28, 2006.

  25. Lloyd de Vries, “Afghan Christian Could Get Death Sentence,” AP via CBS News, March 19, 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/22/world/main1428951.shtml; Kim Barker, “Afghan man faces death for abandoning Islam,” Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2006.

  26. Barker, “Afghan Man Faces Death for Abandoning Islam”; Daniel Cooney, “Afghan Court Drops Christian Convert Case,” AP, March 26, 2006, http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=6192.

  27. Abdul Waheed Wafa, “Preachers in Kabul Urge Execution of Convert to Christianity,” New York Times, March 25, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/25/international/asia/25convert.html; Pamela Constable, “For Afghans, Allies, a Clash of Values,” Washington Post, March 23, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/22/AR2006032201113.html.

  28. Sultan M. Munadi, and Christine Hauser, “Afghan Convert to Christianity Is Released, Officials Say,” New York Times, March 28, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/28/international/asia/28afghan.html.

  29. Cooney, “Afghan Court Drops Christian Convert Case”; “Hundreds Protest Report Afghan Convert to Be Freed,” CNN, March 27, 2006; Amir Shah, “Afghan Convert Released from Prison,” Washington Post, March 28, 2006; Daniel Williams, “Afghan Convert Arrives in Italy as Protests Mount in Homeland,” Washington Post, March 30, 2006; “Editorial: Taliban, Pakistan and Modernity,” Daily Times, March 29, 2006, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C29%5Cstory_29-3-2006_pg3_1.

  30. Barbara G. Baker, “Whose Law in Afghanistan?” Christianity Today, April 6, 2006, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/may/5.22.html; Williams, “Afghan Convert Arrives in Italy”; “Afghan Clerics Threaten Trouble over Convert,” Reuters, April 2, 2006, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2202973.

  31. Pamela Constable, “Afghans’ Uneasy Peace with Democracy; In Discord over Convert’s Trial, Muslims Say They Identify with Islamic Law First,” Washington Post, April 22, 2006; “Afghan Kidnappers ‘Want Convert,’ ” BBC News, October 18, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6061236.stm; “Italian’s Kidnappers Set Terms for Release: Website,” AFP, October 17, 2006; “Italian Photographer Freed in Afghanistan after Three Weeks ‘in Dark,’” AFP, November 3, 2006.

  32. Baker, “Whose Law in Afghanistan?”; Baker, “More Christians Arrested in wake of Afghan ‘Apostasy’ Case.”

  33. “Christian South Koreans to Be Deported,” Washington Times, August 4, 2006, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/aug/03/20060803-095437-1360r/.

  34 Matthias Gebauer, “A Community of Faith and Fear,” Spiegel Online, March 30, 2006, http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,408781,00.html. On other converts, see Mark Morris, “Christian Afghan Fears for Life If Deported,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 26, 2005; Santosh Digal, “Appeal for Afghan Christians, Sentenced to Death for Their Faith,” AsiaNews.it, June 15, 2010, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Appeal-for-Afghan-Christians,-sentenced-to-death-for-their-faith-18680.html#; Mindy Belz, “Kill the Christians: Lawmakers and Protesters in Afghanistan Are Calling for Just That,” World, June 18, 2010, http://www.worldmag.com/webextra/16862.

  35. “Students Protest Against Desecration of Holy Quran,” South Asian News Agency, March 4, 2009, http://www.sananews.com.pk/english/2009/03/04/students-protest-against-desecration-of-holy-quran/.

  36. Laura King, “Afghans Protest Rumored Desecration of Koran by US Troops,” LATimes.com, October 26, 2009, http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/26/world/fg-afghanistan-koran26; Ben Farmer, “Afghan Police Open Fire after Protesters Burn Effigy of Barack Obama,” Daily Telegraph, October 25, 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6433054/Afghan-police-open-fire-after-protesters-burn-effigy-of-Barack-Obama.html.

  37. “Afghan Anger over ‘Koran Burning’ in Kandahar,” BBC, January 13, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8455788.stm.

  38. “Probe Call in Afghan ‘Convert’ Row,” Aljazeera.net, May 4, 2009, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/20095485025169646.html; “Military Burns Unsolicited Bibles Sent to Afghanistan,” CNN, May 20, 2009, http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/20/us.military.bibles.burned/index.html?eref=edition.

  39. Danna Harman, “Despite Opposition, Afghan Christians Worship in Secret,” The Christian Science Monitor, February 27, 2009, http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0227/p04s03-wosc.html.

  40. Amir Shah and Heidi Vogt, “Afghan Gov’t Destroys Books It Says Insult Sunnis,” AP, May 27, 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=7689287.

  41. Jonathan Steele, “Female Minister ‘Is Afghan Rushdie,’ ” The Guardian, June 18, 2002, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/jun/18/afghanistan.jonathansteele; Kathy Gannon, “Female Afghan Official Fears Threats,” AP, June 23, 2002.

  42. “Afghan Woman Minister Hits Back,” BBC News, June 18, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2051612.stm.

  43. Gannon, “Female Afghan Official Fears Threats” (n. 41 above).

  44. “Afghan Judiciary Denies Depriving Former Woman Minister from Post,” Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mashhad, translated and supplied by BBC Monitoring, June 24, 2002; “Third Woman in Afghan Government,” BBC News, June 27, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2069560.stm.

  45. “Afghanistan: Karzai Fails on Press Freedom,” Human Rights Watch news release, June 24, 2003. Mahdavi has started his own blog (http://mhmahdavi.blogspot.com/), where “Holy Fascism” may be read, although the English translation is poor.

  46. Afghanistan—2004 Annual Report, Reporters Without Borders, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10144.

  47. Mir Hussain Mahdavi, “Editor Flees Certain Death in Afghanistan,” The Hamilton Spectator, May 5, 2007; “Afghan Supreme Court Denies Handing Down Death Sentence in Blasphemy Case,” Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mashhad, via BBC Monitoring International Reports, August 8, 2003; “Jailed Afghan Editor-in-Chief Defends Right to Express Ideas,” Arman-e Melli via BBC Monitoring, June 20, 2003.

  48. “President Karzai Orders Release of Two Journalists,” Reporters Without Borders, June 25, 2003, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=7288; Amir Shah, “Protestors in Afghan Capital Call for Authorities to Try Journalist Accused of Blasphemy,” AP, July 3, 2003; 2003 World Press Freedom Review—Afghanistan, International Press Institute, http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/freedom_detail.html?country=/KW0001/KW0005/KW0109/&year=2003; Jake Rupert, for CanWest News Service, “Afghan Editor Forced to Flee to Canada,” National Post (Canada), October 27, 2003. The 2004 State Department religious freedom report says the charges were not dropped; the State Department human rights report says they were; the National Post article, written after his arrival in Canada, says Mahdavi was acquitted of insulting Islam under Afghanistan’s old press law, but Shinwari was pressing to have him and Sistany tried and convicted under sharia. Aftab had its power cut in April 2003, by order of Agriculture Minister Sayeed Hossein Anwari, after it published articles critical of mujahideen leaders and Islamist political parties, as well as the article “Secularism as a Third Approach.” When approached by the paper’s editor for an explanation, Anwari said he could not tolerate “talk against Islam.” Mahdavi also faced death threats over articles criticizing Abdul Rabb al-Rasul Sayyaf, leader of the Ittihad-e-Islami party and a close Shinwari ally; see “Killing You Is a Very Easy Thing for Us: Human Rights Abuses in Southeast Afghanistan,” Human Rights Watch, July 2003, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/afghanistan0703/10.htm#_Toc46287030.

  49. Kim Barker, “Editor’s Jailing Tests Afghan Democracy,” Chicago Tribune, November 26, 2005; Wahidullah Amani, “Writer Could Face Death Sentence,” Institute for War & Peace Reporting, Nove
mber 29, 2005, http://www.theasiamediaforum.org/node/380.

  50. Amani, “Writer Could Face Death Sentence.”

  51. Griff Witte, “Post-Taliban Free Speech Blocked by Courts, Clerics,” Washington Post, December 11, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/10/AR2005121001138.html.

  52. Ibid.; Barker, “Editor’s Jailing Tests Afghan Democracy”; Daniel Cooney, “U.N. Criticizes Afghan Editor’s Jailing,” AP, October 24, 2005.

  53. Witte, “Post-Taliban Free Speech Blocked.”

  54. “High Court Allows Release of Journalist Ali Mohaqiq Nasab,” Reporters Without Borders, December 21, 2005, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16006.

  55. Golnaz Esfandiari, “Afghanistan: Imprisoned Journalist Says Freedom of Expression Under Attack,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, December 29, 2005.

  56. Khaled Hosseini, “Journalism Is Not a Capital Crime,” Wall Street Journal, February 1, 2008, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120182626320733755.html; “Afghanistan: Journalist on Death Row Gives First Interview,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, February 26, 2008; Nora Boustany, “Afghan Reporter’s Death Sentence Draws Wide Condemnation,” Washington Post, January 25, 2008, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402995.html.