Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide

by Paul Marshall

  120. “Pope Criticized over Islam Remarks,” Al Jazeera, September 15, 2006, http://english.aljazeera.net/archive/2006/09/200849154441682442.html.

  121. Benjamin Harvey, “Muslim Anger over Papal Comments Ggrows,” AP, September 15, 2006; “Report: Rome Tightens Pope’s Security after Furor over Islam Remarks,” Ha’aretz, September 17, 2006; Suzan Fraser, “Turkish Lawmaker compares Pope to Hitler,” AP, September 16, 2006.

  122. “Pope Upset That Muslims Offended,” CNN, September 16, 2006.

  123. “Fresh Criticism of Pope’s Remarks,” BBC News, September 16, 2006.

  124. Joelle Bassoul, “Fears of Violent Mideast Backlash to Pope,” AFP, September 15, 2006; “Pope Upset That Muslims Offended”; Harvey, “Muslim Anger over Papal Comments Grows”; Stephen Brown, “Pope to Give Blessing as Pressure for Apology Grows,” Reuters, September 16, 2006; Stephen Brown, “Pope Apology Fails to Stop Backlash,” Herald Sun (Australia), September 17, 2006; “Rome Tightens Pope’s Security after Furor over Islam Remarks”; Fraser, “Turkish Lawmaker Compares Pope to Hitler.”

  125. “Israeli-US Plot Behind Pope’s Remarks: Iran Hardline Press,” AFP, September 17, 2006; “Cardinal Adds to Islam-violence Debate,” Reuters, September 19, 2006.

  126. Ian Fisher, “Some Muslim Leaders Want Pope to Apologize,” New York Times, September 16, 2006. Rana Jawad, “Pakistan Parliament Demands Pope Retract Islam Comments,” AFP, September 15, 2006; “Pakistan’s Parliament Adopts Resolution Condemning Pope’s Remarks about Islam,” AP, September 15, 2006.

  127. Stephen Brown, “Pope to Give Blessing as Pressure for Apology Grows.”

  128. “Pope’s Speech Stirs Muslim Anger,” BBC News, September 14, 2006.

  129. “Pope Criticized over Islam Remarks.”

  130. Fraser, “Turkish Lawmaker Compares Pope to Hitler”; Fisher, “Some Muslim Leaders Want Pope to Apologize.”

  131. Harvey, “Muslim Anger over Papal Comments Grows”; Anthony Shadid, “Remarks by Pope Prompt Muslim Outrage, Protests,” Washington Post, September 16, 2006; Bassoul, “Fears of Violent Mideast Backlash to Pope.”

  132. “Palestinians Open Fire Inside Nablus Church,” AFP, September 16, 2006; Ali Daraghmeh, “Five Palestinian Area Churches Attacked,” AP, September 16, 2006; “West Bank Churches Attacked after Pope Remarks,” New York Times, September 16, 2006.

  133. Shadid, “Remarks by Pope Prompt Muslim Outrage, Protests”; “Second Assyrian Christian Killed in Retaliation for Pope’s Remarks,” Assyrian International NewsAgency, September 17, 2006, http://www.aina.org/news/20060917014616.htm.

  134. “Egypt’s Top Christian Leader Denounces Comments,” The Age (Australia), September 16, 2006; Nadia Abou El-Magd, “Mideast Christians in Uneasy Position,” AP, September 17, 2006.

  135. “Pope’s Statement in Full,” CNN, September 16, 2006.

  136. “Pope Upset That Muslims Offended”; Brown, “Pope Apology Fails to Stop Backlash.”

  137. “Rome Tightens Pope’s Security after Furor over Islam Remarks.”

  138. “‘Jihad’ Vowed over Pope’s Speech,” SwissInfo, September 18, 2006; Nadia Abou El-Magd, “Mideast Christians in Uneasy Position,” AP, September 17, 2006.

  139. Mohamed Sheikh Nor, “Italian Nun Slain by Somali Gunmen,” AP, September 17, 2006; “Religious in Somalia Died Forgiving Her Killers; Sister Loenella Sgorbati to Be Buried in Kenya,” Zenit, September 18, 2006; “Italian Nun Slain in Somalia,” Reuters, September 17, 2006; “Gunmen Shoot Elderly Nun Dead,” The Weekend Australian, September 16, 2006; “Somali Cleric Calls for Pope’s Death,” AFP, September 17, 2006; “Vatican Denounces Nun’s Murder in Somalia,” Zenit, September 17, 2006; Selcan Hacaoglu, “Muslims Seek Detailed Apology from Pope,” AP, September 19, 2006; “Benedict XVI Praises Slain Nun,” Zenit, September 24, 2006.

  140. Ian Fisher, “In a Rare Step, Pope Expresses Personal Regret,” New York Times, September 18, 2006; “Pope’s Comments Published in Arabic,” Zenit, September 19, 2006; Zenit, September 28, 2006.

  141. “Kashmir City Shuts in Protest over Pope’s Remarks,” Reuters, September 18, 2006; B. Raman, “LET Issues Fatwa to Kill the Pope,” International Terrorism Monitor Paper 133, October 2, 2006; Selcan Hacaoglu, “Lawyer: Pope Gunman Warns Benedict Not to Travel,” AP, September 18, 2006; “Pope Statement Fails to End Anger,” BBC News, September 18, 2006.

  142. Philip Pullella and Stephen Brown, “Pope Says Anti-Islam Quotes Not His Own Views,” Reuters, September 20, 2006; “Pope Expresses ‘Deep Respect’ for Muslims and Proposes a Positive and Self-Critical Dialogue,” Zenit, September 20, 2006.

  143. Ian Fisher, “In a Rare Step, Pope Expresses Personal Regret,” New York Times, September 18, 2006. “Cardinal Adds to Islam-violence Debate,” Reuters, September 19, 2006. Tracy Ong and Natalie O’Brien, “Pope Row in Past, PM Tells Muslims,” The Australian, September 20, 2006.

  144. “German Bishops Urge Muslims to be Calm,” October 4, 2006, ReligionandSpirituality.com, http://www.religionandspirituality.com/view/post/11599361427100/German_bishops_urge_Muslims_to_be_calm/.

  145. “German Bishops Urge Muslims to Respect Religious Liberty Describe Criticisms of Papal Address as Unjust,” Zenit, October 3, 2006.

  146. “Pope Stresses Respect for Muslims,” BBC News, September 25, 2006.

  147. Robin Pomery, “Pope Says Christians, Muslims Must Reject Violence,” Reuters, September 25, 2009; “Pope Says Dialogue with Islam Vital for Future,” Zenit, September 25, 2006.

  148. “Islamic Foreign Ministers Press Pope to Apologize,” Reuters, September 26, 2006; John L. Allen, Jr., “A Challenge, Not a Crusade,” New York Times, September 19, 2006.

  149. “Terror Campaign Targets Chaldean Church in Iraq,” AsiaNews.it, October 6, 2006, http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7410; Sameer N. Yacoub, “Fourteen Killed in Violence Around Iraq Including Three Baghdad Bombings,” AP, October 11, 2006; “Relatives of Beheaded Iraqi Priest Say Kidnappers Demanded Apology for Pope,” International Herald Tribune, October 12, 2006.

  150. Maamoun Youssef, “Pan-Arab TV Broadcasts New Bin Laden Tape Calling for Holy War to Liberate Palestine,” AP, March 20, 2008.

  151. John Thavis for Catholic News Service, “Islamic Scholars Write Pope, Take Issue with Remarks in German Speech,” Florida Catholic, October 18, 2006; “Text: Muslim Scholars’ Open Letter to Pope Benedict,” Independent Catholic News, October 19, 2006, http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=6924.

  152. Lars Ströman, “The Right to Ridicule a Religion,” Nerikes Allehanda, English version published August 28, 2007, http://www.na.se/artikel.asp?intId=1209676.

  153. James Savage, “Paper Defends Muhammad Dog Cartoon,” The Local (Sweden), August 28, 2007.

  154. Paul Marshall, “A Scandinavian Sequel,” National Review Online, August 31, 2007; “Iran Protests over Swedish Muhammad Cartoon,” The Local (Sweden), August 27, 2007.

  155. “Ahmedinejad Claims ‘Zionists’ Behind Swedish Cartoon,” The Local (Sweden), August 28, 2007.

  156. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, “Pakistan Condemns the Publication of Offensive Sketches in Sweden,” press release No. 234/2007, August 30, 2007.

  157. Peter Hall, “ ‘Jihad Jane’ Ccodefendant Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Charge,” Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2011, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/10/nation/la-na-terror-plea-20110310.

  158. Eamon Quinn and John F. Burns, “In Ireland, a Hearing on a Plot to Kill a Swedish Cartoonist,” New York Times, March 15, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/world/europe/16ireland.html; “Arrests in Ireland over Swedish Cartoonist Plot,” New York Times, March 9, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/09/world/AP-EU-Swedish-Cartoonist.html; Ian Urbina, “U.S. Woman Charged in Terror Plot Pleads Not Guilty,” New York Times, March 18, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/us/19jane.html; United States Attorney, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, U.S. Department of Justice, “Pennsylvania Woman Indicted in Plot to Recruit Violent Jihadist Fighters and Comm
it Murder Overseas,” March 9, 2010, http://www.justice.gov/usao/pae/News/Pr/2010/mar/larose_release.pdf.

  159. “Populist Politician Blasts Koran, Mohammed,” Daily Telegraph (Australia), February 14, 2007.

  160. “Saudi Wants Dutch MP Apology for Islam Offence: Paper,” Reuters, February 18, 2007.

  161. Henryk M. Broder, “How a Film Triggered a Global Panic”; Leander Schaerlackens, “Dutch Film to Slam Islam”; Ian Traynor, “ ‘I Don’t Hate Muslims. I Hate Islam,’ Says Holland’s Rising Political Star.”

  162. “Dutch Lawmaker Gets Death Threat over Koran Film,” Xinhua, February 27, 2008; “Al Qaeda Fatwa Against MP Wilders,” NIS News Bulletin, February 28, 2008 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1977320/posts.

  163. Stefan Nicola, “Analysis: Anti-Islam Film Scares the Hague,” UPI Energy, January 22, 2008; Mike Cooper, “Iran Warns Dutch Lawmaker’s Anti-Quran Film Would ‘Breed Violence,’ ” AP, March 11, 2008; Elettra Neysmith, “Iranians Urge Dutch to Ban Film,” BBC News, February 16, 2008; “Hundreds of Afghans Protest Danish Prophet Cartoon, Dutch Film Criticizing Quran,” AP, March 5, 2008; Stephen Graham, “Pakistan Lifts Curbs on YouTube, Says ‘Blasphemous’ Video Clip Has Been Removed,” AP, February 27, 2008; Peter Svensson, “Pakistan Attempts to Block Local YouTube Access, Takes out Site for Two-thirds of World,” AP, February 26, 2008.

  164. “A Dutch Antagonist of Islam Waits for His Premiere,” New York Times, March 22, 2008.

  165. “Dutch TV Stations refuse Anti-Muslim Film,” Washington Times, March 7, 2008; “Dutch Protest Anti-Koran Film,” MSNBC.com, March 22, 2008; Gregory Crouch, “A Dutch Antagonist of Islam Waits for His Premiere,” New York Times, March 22, 2008.

  166. “Dutch Islam Film Website ‘Shut,’ ” BBC News, March 23, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7310439.stm.

  167. “Website Withdraws Dutch MP’s Anti-Islam Film after Threats,” AFP, March 29, 2008.

  168. “Film Critical of Islam Dropped from Website,” CNN, March 28, 2008.

  169. “Cartoonist to Sue over Islam Film,” BBC News, March 28, 2008.

  170. Michael Steen and Andrew Bounds, “Muslim Reaction to Dutch Film Is Muted,” Financial Times, March 28, 2008; “Muslim Group Asks for Court Review,” International Herald Tribune, March 28, 2008; “UN Chief Condemns Anti-Islam Film,” BBC News, March 28, 2008; Text of UN press release via States News Service, “High Commissioner for Human Rights Condemns Wilders’ Film and Calls for Appropriate Legal Responses,” March 28, 2008.

  171. “Statement by H. E. Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the Release of the Blasphemous Documentary Film ‘Fitna,’” March 28, 2008, http://www.oic-oci.org/oicnew/topic_detail.asp?t_id=907&x_key.

  172. M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, “Wilders Film Aims to Block Dialogue: WAMY,” Arab News, March 31, 2008.

  173. “Malaysian opposition party calls for Dutch boycott over anti-Islam film,” AP, March 31, 2008.

  174. Niclas Mika for Reuters, “Iran, Indonesia Angry over Dutch Koran Film,” National Post (Canada), March 28, 2008; “Indonesia Criticizes Dutch Film Critical of Islam,” International Herald Tribune, March 28, 2008; “Indonesia Bans Dutch filmmaker, Warns Against Violent Protest,” AFP, April 1, 2008; “Indonesian Internet Providers start Blocking Dutch Film: Report,” AFP, April 5, 2008; “Arab, Muslim Leaders Denounce Film by Dutch Filmmaker,” AP, March 29, 2008; “UN Chief Condemns Anti-Islam Film,” BBC News, March 28, 2008; “500 Pak Lawyers Protest Against Anti-Islam Dutch Film,” Asian News International, April 15, 2008. Pakistani Christian leaders also protested the film; see “Bishop Condemns Anti-Islam Film and Caricatures,” Daily Times (Pakistan), April 17, 2008; “Pakistani Islamic Women Protest ‘Anti-Islam’ Film, Cartoons,” AFP, April 26, 2008; “Pakistanis Protest Dutch Anti-Koran Film,” AFP, May 3, 2008.

  175. “Muslim, UN Outrage over Dutch MP’s Anti-Islam Film,” AFP, March 28, 2008.

  176. Eliane Engeler, “Muslim Countries Slam Dutch Anti-Quran Film at UN,” AP, April 15, 2008; Human Rights Council—First Universal Periodic Review, Geneva, April 7–18 2008, http://www.un.org/webcast/unhrc/archive.asp?go=080415.

  177. Tahir Niaz, “Pakistan Asks EU to Amend Laws on Freedom of Expression,” Daily Times (Pakistan), June 8, 2008.

  178. Asif Shahzad, “Car Bombing Outside Danish Embassy in Pakistan Kills at Least 6,” AP, June 2, 2008. In the Netherlands itself, on May 29, some Dutch businesses threatened a lawsuit against Wilders for any commercial losses if Muslim countries boycotted Dutch goods in protest against the film; “Dutch Businesses Threaten to Sue over Anti-Islam film,” AFP, May 29, 2008.

  179. Resolution 1510 (2006), Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), June 28, 2006, http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/adoptedtext/ta06/eres1510.htm.

  180. “Arab Columnists: Islam Has Been Harmed More by Muslims Than by the West,” MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1951, June 6, 2008.

  Chapter 11

  1. “U.N. Aid and Sudan Clash on Islamic Laws,” New York Times, March 8, 1994, http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/08/world/un-aide-and-sudan-clash-on-islamic-laws.html?scp=1&sq=U.N.%20Aide%20and%20Sudan%20Clash%20on%20Islamic%20Laws&st=cse. The agreements in question were the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

  2. Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan—Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Gáspár Bíró, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1993/60, UN Commission on Human Rights, 50th session, February 1, 1994, E/CN.4/1994/48, pp. 15–16.

  3. Letter dated February 18, 1994, from the Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations Office at Geneva addressed to the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, UN Commission on Human Rights, 50th session, March 1, 1994, E/CN.4/1994/122.

  4. As quoted in Report of the Secretary-General submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1995/75, UN Commission on Human Rights, 52nd session, February 22, 1996, E/CN.4/1996/57, http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/TestFrame/e2f2cb75181e115b802566da0040304c?Opendocument.

  5. Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diène, further to Human Rights Council decision 1/107 on incitement to racial and religious hatred and the promotion of tolerance, UN Human Rights Council, 2nd session, September 20, 2006, A/HRC/2/3, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G06/139/90/PDF/G0613990.pdf?OpenElement.

  6. Membership includes the “State of Palestine.” See “Timeline: Organisation of the Islamic Conference,” BBC News, September 18, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/1564339.stm. The organization has repeatedly insisted that the international community distinguish between terrorism and what it calls a legitimate fight for self-determination; see, for example, Convention of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference on Combating International Terrorism, http://www.oic-oci.org/english/convenion/terrorism_convention.htm).

  7. “Muslim Leaders Want to Curb ‘Islamophobia,’” MSNBC.com, March 14, 2008, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23639629/; 2nd OIC Observatory Report on Islamophobia (June 2008 to April 2009), issued at the 36th Council of Foreign Ministers, Damascus, May 23–25, 2009, http://www.oic-oci.org/uploads/file/Islamphobia/Islamophobia_rep_May_23_25_2009.pdf.

  8. Charter of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, March 14, 2008, http://www.oic-oci.org/is11/english/Charter-en.pdf.

  9. Ten-Year Programme of Action to Meet the Challenges Facing the Muslim Ummah in the 21st Century, Third Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference, Organisation of the Islamic Conference, December 7–8, 2005, http://www.oic-oci.org/ex-summit/english/10-years-plan.htm; “Islamophobia,” from OIC journal issue 1, http://www.oic-oci.org/english/article/islamophobia.htm.

  10. Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, adopted during the Nineteenth Islamic Con
ference of Foreign Ministers (Session of Peace, Interdependence and Development), Cairo, Egypt, 31 July to August 5, 1990, http://www.oicun.org/articles/54/1/Cairo-Declaration-on-Human-Rights-in-Islam/1.html. For an analysis of the Declaration, see Anne Elizabeth Mayer, Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics, 3rd ed. (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999).

  11. Support by the United Nations system of the efforts of Governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies, Report of the Secretary-General, August 23, 2007, A/62/296, p. 16. For references to Cairo also see, for example, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Economic and Social Council, Substantive session of 1999, Geneva, July 29, 1999, E/1999/96, p. 11, and resolution 1998/17 (August 21, 1998) on the Situation of Women in Afghanistan, which misleadingly pronounced that “the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, adopted by the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 1990, guarantees the rights of women in all fields” (in Report of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, E/CN.4/1999/4 (also listed under E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/45), pp. 49–50. For a complete list search for “Cairo Declaration on Human Rights” in the UN Official Document System, see http://documents.un.org/advance.asp.