Atheist in trouble for acting as Muhammad/Allah

[Terra Branford]

I don't get it...its his town, how did he not know it was a crime punishable by death/flogging/stoning/burning?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...w/7291256.html

QALQILIYA, West Bank — A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.

The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.

Residents of Qalqiliya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin — the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar — was leading a double life.

Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly posting anti-religion rants on the Internet during his free time.

Now, he faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence." Many in this conservative Muslim town say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.

"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.

Over several years, Husayin is suspected of posting arguments in favor of atheism on English and Arabic blogs, where he described the God of Islam as having the attributes of a "primitive Bedouin." He called Islam a "blind faith that grows and takes over people's minds where there is irrationality and ignorance."
Claims about what God wants

If that wasn't enough, he is also suspected of creating three Facebook groups in which he sarcastically declared himself God and ordered his followers, among other things, to smoke marijuana in verses that spoof the Muslim holy book, the Quran. At its peak, Husayin's Arabic-language blog had more than 70,000 visitors, overwhelmingly from Arab countries.

His Facebook groups elicited hundreds of angry comments, detailed death threats and the formation of more than a dozen Facebook groups against him, including once called "Fight the blasphemer who said 'I am God.'"

The outburst of anger reflects the feeling in the Muslim world that their faith is under mounting attack by the West. This sensitivity has periodically turned violent, such as the street protests that erupted in 2005 after cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad were published in Denmark or after Pope Benedict XVI suggested the Prophet Muhammad was evil the following year. The pope later retracted his comment.

Husayin is the first to be arrested in the West Bank for his religious views, said Tayseer Tamimi, the former chief Islamic judge in the area.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is among the more religiously liberal Arab governments in the region. It is dominated by secular elites and has frequently cracked down on hardline Muslims and activists connected to its conservative Islamic rival, Hamas.

Husayin's high public profile and prickly style, however, left authorities no choice but to take action.

Husayin used a fake name on his English and Arabic-language blogs and Facebook pages. After his mother discovered articles on atheism on his computer, she canceled his Internet connection in hopes that he would change his mind.

Instead, he began going to an Internet cafe — a move that turned out to be a costly mistake. The owner, Ahmed Abu-Asal, said the blogger aroused suspicion by spending up to seven hours a day in a corner booth. After several months, a cafe worker supplied captured snapshots of his Facebook pages to Palestinian intelligence officials.

Officials monitored him for several weeks and then arrested him on Oct. 31 as he sat in the cafe, said Abu-Asal.
The case is the second high-profile arrest connected in the West Bank connected to Facebook activity. In late September, a reporter for a news station sympathetic to Hamas was arrested and detained for more than a month after he was tagged in a Facebook image that insulted the Palestinian president.

Gaza's Hamas rulers also stalk Facebook pages of suspected dissenters, said Palestinian rights activist Mustafa Ibrahim. He said Internet cafe owners are forced to monitor customers' online activity, and alert intelligence officials if they see anything critical of the militant group or that violates Hamas' stern interpretation of Islam.
Going fishing on Facebook

Both governments also create fake Facebook profiles to befriend and monitor known dissidents, activists said. In September, a young Gaza man was detained after publishing an article critical of Hamas on his Facebook feed.

Such "stalking" on Facebook and other social media sites has become increasingly common in the Arab world. In Lebanon, four people were arrested over the summer and accused of slandering President Michel Suleiman on Facebook. All have been released on bail.

In neighboring Syria, Facebook is blocked altogether. And in Egypt, a blogger was charged with atheism in 2007 after intelligence officials monitored his posts.

Damn? Even his own family members? Sheesh....

I hope somehow, by some miracle, he is saved and someone takes him out of the town and far away them.

 

[Sum1sgruj]

I hope somehow, by some miracle, he is saved and someone takes him out of the town and far away them.

You diss a quarter of the world, and new-age morality doesn't exist in his little portion of it, which is full of Arab culture. Lets go by our new-age standards: He knew the law. He deserves what he gets. (sarcasm intended)

I agree,, he needs a miracle.

 

[coffeecup]

Pretty reckless for a 26-year old, even moreso since he's just bashing on his religion. But he must've been trapped in an irreconcilable situation since his father's a Muslim scholar and all. Also his liberal way of thinking is just one of the many things that Islamic communites generally find distasteful and perverted about our western nations. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a public execution. Sad but that's how things are.

 

[Six]

Something about religion bugs me. Treat others how you want to be treated, and don't judge others, be forgiving. Yet every damn person tosses around someone should be killed blah blah, who are they to judge someone should be killed? Who made them God?

This article to me was just another weird fact in reality. Shit happens, but worse things are happening still. So I really don't get why stating "He should be killed" like the senseless little man said.

Don't bite my head off, 'cause it's just my opinion.

 

[Atma]

Something about religion bugs me. Treat others how you want to be treated, and don't judge others, be forgiving. Yet every damn person tosses around someone should be killed blah blah, who are they to judge someone should be killed? Who made them God?

This article to me was just another weird fact in reality. Shit happens, but worse things are happening still. So I really don't get why stating "He should be killed" like the senseless little man said.

Don't bite my head off, 'cause it's just my opinion.

I have to agree with you, sir. Your words remind me a lot of Fullmetal Alchemist. To be specific, I am referring to Scar and how he used the arm of his brother to kill the many state alchemists he sought revenge on.

 

[Kei]

That guy was so freaking funny, all people were like sending me "report this page to close it down because it's offensive", so I went to read it and tbqh I kinda had a good laugh at his comments, it was so funny. xD

Anyway, he should have expected that. Islamic Arabic countries don't have that "freedom of speech" right. I'm not saying he should be killed, or burned or whatever, though he should be smarter than that, to expect such a thing.

Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly posting anti-religion rants on the Internet during his free time.

lol, remind me of myself. Though, I don't hold anti-religious rants, I respect the other religions, and sometimes defend it when a lot of people all together bash it but I'd appreciate if they don't go around trying to "guide me to the right path".

 

[Marquis of Granby]

this is a perfect example of what many people were saying in another thread related to islam (albeit extremists). people (in his own country) are willing to murder this man for his views on religion and no one's banging on about his human rights?

:dave:

 

[coffeecup]

this is a perfect example of what many people were saying in another thread related to islam (albeit extremists). people (in his own country) are willing to murder this man for his views on religion and no one's banging on about his human rights?

That's because human rights are defined by your nation. We prescribe to something called positive law, so human rights (like freedom of expression) are man-made rights that society has deemed so important that we've made it very difficult to infringe upon those rights. Freedom of expression is an important value to our Western society, so we've ensured its protection. Again, it is only protected because it is something that we have decided as a society that is valuable.

But it's not the same in other countries. We cannot tell the other countries what to do, they develop their own view on morality and set their own laws. There is no universal set of laws that govern everyone, again laws are man-made. Saying that just because it's okay to do something in their country, then we should too is not a double standard at all because there is no set universal standard. It's only a problem when their actions directly (not indirectly or tangentially) affect our people or allies in a sufficient manner.