Blasphemy law in Afghanistan

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Afghanistan uses Sharia as its justification for punishing blasphemy. The punishments are among the harshest in the world. Afghanistan uses its law against blasphemy to persecute religious minorities, apostasy, dissenters, academics, and journalists.

Contents

The constitution

The Constitution of Afghanistan, ratified in January 2004, makes Islam the state religion. The President and the vice-presidents must be Muslim. The great majority of Afghanistan's citizens are Sunni who follow the Hanafi school of jurisprudence.

Sharia

Afghanistan's Penal Code of 1976 addresses "Crimes Against Religions" but leaves the issue of blasphemy to Sharia. Sharia permits the authorities to treat blasphemy as a capital crime. The authorities can punish blasphemy with death if the blasphemy is committed by a male of sound mind over age 18 or by a female of sound mind over age 16. Anyone accused of blasphemy has three days to recant. If an accused does not recant, death by hanging may follow. [1]

Media law 2004

Writings considered anti-Islamic are prohibited under a vaguely worded media law which came into effect in March 2004. The law stipulates that journalists can be legally detained only with the approval of a seventeen-member commission of government officials and journalists. The authorities detained journalist Ali Mohaqiq Nasab in 2005 without regard for the media law. [2]

Baháʼí Faith

In May 2007, the General Directorate of Fatawa and Accounts under the Afghan Supreme Court, which provides guidance on ambiguous religious issues not addressed in the Constitution or other laws, issued a ruling on the status of followers of the Baháʼí Faith. The ruling said "Baháʼísm" was distinct from Islam and a form of blasphemy. The ruling also declared all Muslims who convert to the Baháʼí Faith are apostates, and all followers of the religion are infidels. [1] See Baháʼí Faith in Afghanistan and Apostasy in Islam.

Selected cases

In early November 2007, authorities arrested and detained Ghaus (also Ghaws) Zalmai for publishing an unofficial translation of the Quran in the Dari language. Parliament prohibited Zalmai from leaving the country. In 2009, a court sentenced Zalmai to twenty years in prison for blasphemy. Malawi Mushtaq Ahmad, who sanctioned the translation, was arrested in June 2008. [1] [3]

On 27 October 2007, police arrested Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a student at Balkh University and a journalist for Jahan-e-Naw (New World), a daily, after he allegedly distributed writing posted on the Internet by Arash Bikhoda (Arash the atheist). Bikhoda's writing criticizes the treatment of women in Islamic societies. On 22 January 2008, a court sentenced Kambaksh to death for "blasphemy and distribution of texts defamatory of Islam." The court relied on a confession which Kambaksh denounced as a product of torture. In October 2008, the Court of Appeals in Kabul upheld the conviction but commuted the sentence to imprisonment for twenty years. [1] [4] [5] On 11 or 12 February 2009, the Afghan Supreme Court upheld the sentence of twenty years. [3] In late August 2009, Kambaksh left Afghanistan after a grant of "amnesty" by President Hamid Karzai. [6]

In October 2005, Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, a journalist and an editor of a women's rights magazine, was sentenced by a tribunal to two years in prison for blasphemy because he questioned the harsh punishments imposed on women under Sharia, and because he said conversion from Islam should not be a crime. Nasab was released in December 2005 after his sentence was reduced on appeal. [1] [2]

In August 2003, the Afghan Supreme Court upheld death sentences for journalists Sayeed Mahdawi and Ali Reza Payam. Afghan authorities accused the journalists of blasphemy for saying the Islam practiced in Afghanistan was reactionary, for criticizing the political use of the religion by conservative leaders, and for asking: "If Islam is the last and the most complete of the revealed religions, why are the Muslim countries lagging behind the modern world?" The journalists went into hiding before the sentences were pronounced. [7]

In 2003, two editors of the weekly Aftab were jailed for a week on blasphemy charges for publishing a controversial series of articles condemning crimes committed by senior Afghan leaders in the name of Islam. The two editors were later cleared of the charges, but they were forced to leave Afghanistan because of threats against their lives. [2]

Related Research Articles

Sharia is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the hadith. In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God's immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations. The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between Muslim fundamentalists and modernists.

Freedom of religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is marked by Iranian culture, major religion and politics. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran mandates that the official religion of Iran is Shia Islam and the Twelver Ja'fari school, and also mandates that other Islamic schools are to be accorded full respect, and their followers are free to act in accordance with their own jurisprudence in performing their religious rites. The Constitution of Iran stipulates that Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are the only recognized religious minorities. The continuous presence of the country's pre-Islamic, non-Muslim communities, such as Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians, had accustomed the population to the participation of non-Muslims in society.

Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy in which Sunni Islam is the official state religion based on firm Sharia law. Non-Muslims must practice their religion in private and are vulnerable to discrimination and deportation. It has been stated that no law requires all citizens to be Muslim, but also that non-Muslims are not allowed to have Saudi citizenship. Children born to Muslim fathers are by law deemed Muslim, and conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and punishable by death. Blasphemy against Sunni Islam is also punishable by death, but the more common penalty is a long prison sentence. According to the U.S. Department of State's 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom, there have been 'no confirmed reports of executions for either apostasy or blasphemy' between 1913 and 2013.

The Supreme Court of Afghanistan, or Stera Mahkama, was the court of last resort in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. It was created by the Constitution of Afghanistan, which was approved on January 4, 2004. Its creation was called for by the Bonn Agreement, which read in part:

Apostasy in Islam Islamic views on the renunciation of Islam by a Muslim

Apostasy in Islam is commonly defined as the abandonment of Islam by a Muslim, in word or through deed. It includes not only explicit renunciations of the Islamic faith by converting to another religion, but also blasphemy or heresy, through any action or utterance implying unbelief, including those denying a "fundamental tenet or creed" of Islam.

Iran is a constitutional, Islamic theocracy. Its official religion is the doctrine of the Twelver Jaafari School. Iran's law against blasphemy derives from Sharia. Blasphemers are usually charged with "spreading corruption on earth", or mofsed-e-filarz, which can also be applied to criminal or political crimes. The law against blasphemy complements laws against criticizing the Islamic regime, insulting Islam, and publishing materials that deviate from Islamic standards.

Sayed Parwez Kambaksh was born 24 July 1984 in Afghanistan. In late 2007, he was a student at Balkh University and a journalist for Jahan-e-Naw, a daily. On 27 October 2007, police arrested Kambaksh, and accused him of "blasphemy and distribution of texts defamatory of Islam". The authorities claimed that Kambaksh distributed writing posted on the Internet by Arash Bikhoda. Bikoda's writing criticizes the treatment of women under Islamic Law.

Blasphemy law Law prohibiting blasphemy

A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, where blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Research Center, about a quarter of the world's countries and territories (26%) had anti-blasphemy laws or policies as of 2014.

Blasphemy law in Indonesia is the legislation, presidential decrees, and ministerial directives that prohibit blasphemy in Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia's laws are an amalgam of rules from Sharia, royal decrees, royal ordinances, other royal codes and bylaws, fatwas from the Council of Senior Scholars and custom and practice.

A person who is accused of blasphemy in Yemen is often subject to vigilantism by governmental authorities. An accused person is subject to Sharia, which, according to some interpretations, prescribes death for blasphemy.

The main blasphemy law in Egypt is Article 98(f) of the Egyptian Penal Code. It penalizes: "whoever exploits and uses the religion in advocating and propagating by talk or in writing, or by any other method, extremist thoughts with the aim of instigating sedition and division or disdaining and contempting any of the heavenly religions or the sects belonging thereto, or prejudicing national unity or social peace."

The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria prohibits blasphemy against Islam by using legislation rather than by using Sharia. The penalty for blasphemy may be years of imprisonment as well as a fine. Every Algerian child has an opportunity to learn what blasphemy is because Islam is a compulsory subject in public schools, which are regulated jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has Islam as its official religion, and the federation regards blasphemy as a very serious matter. The UAE uses the school system as well as censorship and control of the press and the broadcast media to prevent blasphemy. When blasphemy occurs, the Emirates have two court systems to mete out punishment.

Malaysia curbs blasphemy and any insult to religion or to the religious by rigorous control of what people in that country can say or do. Government-funded schools teach young Muslims the principles of Sunni Islam, and instruct young non-Muslims on morals. The government informs the citizenry on proper behavior and attitudes, and ensures that Muslim civil servants take courses in Sunni Islam. The government ensures that the broadcasting and publishing media do not create disharmony or disobedience. If someone blasphemes or otherwise engages in deviant behavior, Malaysia punishes such transgression with Sharia or through legislation such as the Penal Code.

Youcef Nadarkhani Iranian Christian pastor

Youcef Nadarkhani is an Iranian Christian pastor who was sentenced to death in Tehran as being a Christian having been born into Islam. Initial reports, including a 2010 brief from the Iranian Supreme court, stated that the sentence on Nadarkhani was based on the crime of apostasy, renouncing his Islamic faith. Government officials later claimed that the sentence was instead based on alleged violent crimes, specifically rape and extortion; however, no formal charges or evidence of violent crimes have been presented in court. According to Amnesty International and Nadarkhani's legal team, the Iranian government had offered leniency if he were to recant his Christianity. His lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah stated that an appeals court upheld his sentence after he refused to renounce his Christian faith and convert to Islam In early September 2012, Nadarkhani was acquitted of apostasy, but found guilty of evangelizing Muslims, though he was immediately released as having served prison time. However, he was taken back into custody on Christmas Day 2012 and then released shortly afterwards on 7 January 2013.

Irreligion in Afghanistan

According to a study by Humanists International (HI), Afghanistan is one of the seven countries in the world where being an atheist or a convert can lead to a death sentence. According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, Afghanistan ranks among the countries where people are least likely to admit to being an atheist.

Ali Mohaqiq Nasab is a liberal Afghan Shi'ite cleric and a former editor-in-chief of Huqūqi Zan.

Capital punishment for non-violent offenses is allowed by law in many countries.

The situation for apostates from Islam varies markedly between Muslim-minority and Muslim-majority regions. In Muslim-minority countries "any violence against those who abandon Islam is already illegal". But in some Muslim-majority countries, religious violence is "institutionalised", and "hundreds and thousands of closet apostates" live in fear of violence and are compelled to live lives of "extreme duplicity and mental stress."

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "2008 Report on International Religious Freedom - Afghanistan". United States Department of State. 19 September 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 Wright, Abi; Kristin Jones (11 October 2005). "Afghanistan: Editor goes on trial for blasphemy". Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  3. 1 2 Wafa, Abdul Waheed; Carlotta Gall; Taimoor Shah (11 March 2009). "Afghan Court Backs Prison Term for Blasphemy". The New York Times . Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  4. ↑ Mineeia, Zainab (21 October 2008). "Afghanistan: Journalist Serving 20 Years for "Blasphemy"". IPS (Inter Press Service). Retrieved 2 July 2009.
  5. ↑ Wiseman, Paul (31 January 2008). "Afghan student's death sentence hits nerve". USA Today. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
  6. ↑ Sengupta, Kim (7 September 2009). "Free at last: Student in hiding after Karzai's intervention". The Independent . Retrieved 8 September 2009.
  7. ↑ "Supreme court confirms death sentence for two journalists for "blasphemy"". Reporters sans frontières. 6 August 2003. Retrieved 13 July 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
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