Indonesia: Buddhist woman imprisoned for blasphemy

An Indonesian court sentenced a Buddhist woman to 18 months in prison for blasphemy on Tuesday, after she was accused of insulting Islam for complaining that neighbourhood mosque was too loud. Meiliana, a 44-year old ethnic Chinese Buddhist had complained the Muslim call to prayer, repeated five times a day, was being played too loudly […]

Christian Georgia Proposes a ‘Blasphemy Law’

Georgia with its devoutly Orthodox Christian set of communities, is proposing a ‘blasphemy bill’ that will make religious caricaturing and comedic lampooning of faith, punishable in law. The bill, which has been approved at committee stage, has led to critics suggesting that it will cause a chilling effect on those critics of the official church line and more importantly, on dissent regarding religion. Some have suggested that even theatre, art and plays which explored faith could fall of the blasphemy bill. The proposed bill attaches fines to those who target “insults to religious feelings” with a 100 lari fine ($120) attached to any comment deemed to fall foul of the law. This would double if there was a repeat of the incident and desecration of a religious icon would lead to a fine of 1000 laris. Given that the average salary in the country is about 800 laris, the new bill seems to hit those in the pocket willing to take a dissenting line to faith and belief. This bill comes on the back of opposition to the opening of mosques and madrassas in the west of Georgia where groups have been active in lobbying against Muslim institutions.

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Asia Bibi and the continued problem of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws

The Supreme Court of Pakistan recently suspended the execution of Asia Bibi – the Christian mother-of-five convicted on alleged blasphemy charges that reportedly started over a glass of water. It sounds positive, as historically Pakistani courts seemed to be under enormous pressure whenever it came to blasphemy related cases. One of the judges of the same court, Justice Arif Iqbal Bhatti, was assassinated in 1997 after he acquitted two Christians, Salamat Masih and Rehmat Masih, in a blasphemy case because of insufficient evidence. According to various reports, 1274 people have been charged with blasphemy between 1986 and 2010 – 51 accused have been murdered before finishing their respective trials. With that in mind, it is possible to see how the above potentially influenced the decision to uphold Asia Bibi’s death penalty conviction last year (without any credible evidence). The above numbers signify a horrific picture for the fate of anyone accused of breaching blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Whatever the courts decide about the case, the religious fanatics rarely allow them to survive. Not only are the accused at risk; but their supporters and lawyers are targets and killers are sometimes glorified. Under these circumstances, no one should think that Asia [...]

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