Another Reason to Love the First Amendment

March 25, 2012 by 13 Comments

Pakistan has sentenced a police officer to life in prison and a huge fine for “blaspheming” the “prophet” Muhammad. This kind of thing just creeps me out. Imagine living in a society where saying the wrong thing about religion can get you thrown in prison for the rest of your life. Orwell could hardly have dreamed of anything more repulsive.

Filed Under: Free Speech 13 Comments
About Ed Brayton

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

  • slc1

    And if a fucktard like Santorum ever got elected president, the same sorts of laws would be passed here.

  • D. C. Sessions

    Orwell could hardly have dreamed of anything more repulsive.

    Don’t be silly, Ed — Orwell was quite familiar with history and knew that “more repulsive” has been more common than not for a very long time.

    Or are you overlooking torture and being burned alive for washing your hands?

  • uzza

    Or imagine prison and a huge fine for blaspheming the profit,

    on Wall Street, while occupying a public space.

  • rjmx

    You missed the best part:

    The judge awarded life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 200,000 in the case, adding that the accused would have to undergo further two years of imprisonment if he failed to pay the fine.

    Apparently, if he doesn’t pay the fine, his corpse gets to spend two years in jail after he dies.

    I also like the way they abbreviate the “peace be upon him” mantra after every mention of Muhammad with “(PBUH)”. Do these people realise how stupid it looks?

  • Trebuchet

    On a related note, I haven’t heard anything for several weeks about the Saudi citizen who was hauled off a plane in Malaysia and shipped back to Saudi Arabia for tweeting something unrespectful about Mohammed. Does anyone know what’s happened to him since?

  • http://rationaldreaming.com tacitus

    Apparently, if he doesn’t pay the fine, his corpse gets to spend two years in jail after he dies.

    It may be little consolation to the police officer, but “life” in Pakistan carries a minimum sentence of 25 years after which you can be paroled.

  • cag

    Do these people realise how stupid it looks?

    They don’t even realize how stupid their religion is.

  • laurentweppe

    I haven’t heard anything for several weeks about the Saudi citizen who was hauled off a plane in Malaysia and shipped back to Saudi Arabia for tweeting something unrespectful about Mohammed. Does anyone know what’s happened to him since?

    No Saudi subject was hauled off a plane in Malaysia and shipped back to Saudi Arabia for tweeting something unrespectful about Mohammed.

    *

    Of course, you may confuse this non existant Saudi with the very real Hamza Kashgari who tweeted something absolutely not unrespectful in any way about Mohammed but who commited the very serious -in the eyes of the Saudi aristocracy- crime of supporting the Arab Spring and whose not-at-all disrespectful tweets about Mohammed were used as a pretense to arrest him.

    *

    Well, apparently, he has already been proclaimed guilty until proven guilty but the trial has yet to start (no: that’s not a joke).

  • sezme

    slc1 in #1 says:

    And if a fucktard like Santorum ever got elected president, the same sorts of laws would be passed here.

    Oh for Christ’s sake, don’t be a fucktard yourself. Nothing even remotely similar would happen. You sound like a religious nutcase just turned upside down.

  • LightningRose

    sezme, a “Respect for Religion” law isn’t all that far-fetched. Not with the current Repuglican party.

    Consider the law currently under consideration that would allow an employer, under the guise of religious freedom, to pry into a woman’s private medical records and deny her coverage for birth control pills if he doesn’t like her reasons for using them.

    Whether or not courts would allow such a law to stand is another question, but I put nothing past the sensibilities of fuckwit conservative legislatures and their constituents.

  • mrbongo

    @5

    Which Saudi accussed of blasphemy for using twitter? There is at least two as of this week.

    http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/another-twitter-user-accused-of-apostasy-in-saudi-arabia-2012-03-25-1.450274

    The revolting aspect of the first case was the interpol helped tracked down the man as he fled Saudi Arabia for Malaysia. Yes, interpol is now part of the blasphemy against mohamed(PBUH) enforcement net.

  • mrbongo

    I’m not republican but I challenge anyone in here to link to an attempt by Santorum to institute blasphemy laws in the U.S. – or any elected republican official for that matter.

    This assertion just makes you look like a chiroptera-esque mental health issue dumbass.

  • Doug Little

    I’m not republican but I challenge anyone in here to link to an attempt by Santorum to institute blasphemy laws in the U.S.

    Santorum’s Christian Sharia Plan

    Your’e welcome.