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Egyptian Atheist Albert Saber Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Insulting Religion
Unless the Muslim Brotherhood decides to practice a little Taqiyya during the appeal, Egyptian atheist Albert Saber will be heading to prison for criticizing Islam. (In order to appear balanced, prosecutors even added that he made statements “critical of Christianity.” Note: If possession of statements critical of Christianity is going to be a crime in Egypt, everyone who has a copy of the Qur’an is about to go to prison.)
The world cheered as the “Arab Spring” began toppling dictators in the Muslim world. But people like me were asking, “Don’t you realize who’s going to take over these countries when the dictators fall?” Of course, anyone who criticized the Arab Spring was immediately labeled a racist, Islamophobic, hate-mongering bigot. After all, Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, and when Islam controls a land, you get an interfaith utopia, just like the mythical interfaith utopia of Cordoba. Now that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken the reigns in Egypt and has begun punishing people for blasphemy, however, Westerners are scratching their heads wondering what went wrong. It’s Islam, Silly.
CAIRO — A Cairo court sentenced an atheist from a Christian family on Wednesday to three years in prison for insulting religion, firing up fears about the future of freedom of expression here just as Egyptians prepare to vote on an Islamist-backed draft constitution denounced by secular groups as failing to protect such rights.
The convicted man, Albert Saber, is expected to be released on bail of about $167 pending an appeal. An open and avowed atheist, Mr. Saber, 27, was initially accused of circulating links to an offensive online video lampooning the Prophet Muhammad that set off protests across the Muslim world in September. Mr. Saber has denied promoting the video, and he is being charged for other statements critical of Islam and Christianity that police investigators found on his computer. Open profession of atheism is almost unheard-of in Egypt and is widely considered an affront to society as a whole.
Although blasphemy was a criminal offense under former President Hosni Mubarak before Egypt’s revolution as well, Mr. Saber’s case has raised special alarm because it comes against the backdrop of the sometimes violent battle over Egypt’s draft constitution, which elevates the crime of insulting religion to the level of the charter itself.
“Expect to see many more blasphemy prosecutions in the future now that it’s embedded as a crime in the constitution,” said Heba Morayef, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who is tracking the case. (Continue Reading.)
2012-12-13 08:43:11
Source: http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2012/12/egyptian-atheist-albert-saber-sentenced.html
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