Law not being enforced is one thing. courts actively supporting is completely different!
that can't be right. i can't see the link (it is blocked at work). can someone post the text
Where do you work that blocks the BBC, but not Redcafe?
I wonder how the baby pleaded. Crying=not guilty?Upon cross-examination the baby spit up on the prosecutor then shit itself.
Woah, woah, woah. Let's not be reasonable.
The laws are in place to protect the citizens than the Prophet. In an ultra religious country if people given free reign to defame someone regarded so highly would cause civil riots, damage to religious infrastructure and bloodshed. The issue of riots and bloodshed would be even more severe if those defaming comes from a minority religion in that particular country.
The judiciary needs to be seen to be acting tough on these matters as a deterrent. As an Indian you should understand more than anyone how fragile these issues are in these parts of the world. Imagine the carnage if a Muslim was to defame a statue of a revered Hindu God in public? In Gujarat it's against the law to slaughter cows for consumption to protect the sensibilities of the majority Hindu population, and people are actually prosecuted for breaking this law.
Understand that Sults, but OP was on my opinion that the country is imploding internally, not on intra-religious conflicts. If you look at the OP, both death penalty accused were muslims too (by their names, I presume). The take I got from those articles and my colleagues from there is that that country is becoming too radical even for 'normal' muslims (for lack of a better word). The radical elements are gaining momentum and blasphemy laws used against anyone who does not show explicit support! I think the situation will deteriorate even without other countries/religions intervention.
There's no doubt Pakistan are at crossroads at present. It's always been particularly a particularly volatile nation since the partition (which should never have happened). Pakistan have also been in an unfortunate situation because they are bordering Afghanistan and Iran. The refugee problem over the last decade has seen a few million political and religious refugees flood into Pakistan causing more problems to an already difficult situation.
Sounds perfectly sane.
Essentially, Pakistan is happy to kill a relatively small number of people for their words to keep the majority from rioting. The rights of the minority be damned. The larger issue is that a sizable part of the Pakistani population are stuck several centuries in the past. The government should be more worried about those who riot than those who speak. The fault lies with them for being hyper-sensitive children.
You'll find hardly anyone has ever been killed for blasphemy.
You are right there are restrictions in western nations. We have hate crime laws in the US and even the UK had less than liberal free speech laws. But that is several orders of magnitude off what we are seeing in Pakistan.
That's because Pakistan was basically found on religious ideology, and laws.
But we can encourage change by pointing out where it needs to happen.
People are sentenced to death for it. That, whether or not they are executed, is deplorable. What's the government going to do with those people when there's a chance they'll be killed for commuting or annulling sentences as has happened previously?
Racism is legal in USA? That's shocking if true!
Ideas, no matter how despicable, aren't illegal. Nor is the speech expressing them. While there are a number of radical racist groups in the US, they are effectively powerless. Trying to stamp out their beliefs would only encourage them. I found out recently that there is a Klan chapter within 50-100 miles of where I live, but I have never heard about it in 20+ years because they don't do anything.
I'm genuinely shocked how you guys are excusing freedom of speech or thought as an excuse to use racist language. Personally it's despicable not having a law against racism.
Who decides what qualifies? The problem with laws against speech and thoughts is that right now, we might agree with what a government want a to restrict. But there will come a time where that isn't the case.
To be fair Sultan, I do think that sentencing someone to death for saying mean things is a lot worse than allowing mean things to be said.
We are not excusing it. It's just not illegal. Racism is quite obviously despicable, but that doesn't mean it can be legislated out of existence. Many racist actions are illegal, but how would you go about making being a racist illegal? Thought police? If you make racist speech illegal, what else would you include? There is no right not to be offended.I'm confused - we maybe at cross purposes with legal terms. I'm no lawyer, but I understand a thought can never be prosecuted. Below is a link what I'm talking about.
