Afghanistan is a struggling country, a faltering narco-state at the heart of the US "war on terror." Not unlike Iraq, the country is experiencing a strong move towards politics dictated by religious extremism. Case study number one:
"An Afghan appeal court on Wednesday reduced to six months a two-year sentence handed to a women's magazine editor convicted of blasphemy in a trial that prompted an outcry from international media groups.
"Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the Haqoq-e-Zan (Women's Rights) monthly, was jailed in October and convicted and sentenced weeks later, with conservative Islamic clerics demanding the death penalty.
"The appeal court cut the sentence after the editor apologized for one of the articles in his magazine that questioned an Islamic law that bans conversion to another religion, a court official said."
We can expect similar "blasphemy" charges in Iraq in the coming years as sharia law becomes the norm.
"An Afghan appeal court on Wednesday reduced to six months a two-year sentence handed to a women's magazine editor convicted of blasphemy in a trial that prompted an outcry from international media groups.
"Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the Haqoq-e-Zan (Women's Rights) monthly, was jailed in October and convicted and sentenced weeks later, with conservative Islamic clerics demanding the death penalty.
"The appeal court cut the sentence after the editor apologized for one of the articles in his magazine that questioned an Islamic law that bans conversion to another religion, a court official said."
We can expect similar "blasphemy" charges in Iraq in the coming years as sharia law becomes the norm.
4 Comments:
AL is to be commended for not placing an anti Western spin on this story.
Its simply racist and Western-centric to assume that aggression between people in the third world is always the fault of the West.
In Afghanistan and Sri Lanka many third world people kill each other out of religion and as a traditional way of resolving differences.
US Liberals always blame the President for Not stopping killing between third world groups. Equally the US is accused of meddling in everything.
Attempt's to blame the West for everything simply make it easier for neocons to say - "Our Liberal political opponents are simply unreasonable - we don't need to listen to them because they lack credibility"
Isn't this story, in fact, an example of progress?
Afghanis allowing (or perhaps I should say, forced to allow) a Women's Rights magazine, that isn’t scribbled in dirt, to be published within the country.
The conservative clerics haven’t exactly ‘won’ here, with the editor being released from gaol, and this- more important- gem:
Nasab's case was also brought before Afghanistan's Media Monitoring Commission, a government body, which stripped him of the title of chief editor of the magazine but recommended that the blasphemy charges be dropped.
In many ways, this is an imperfect win for reformists within the country.
More examples of (imperfect) victories.
The above link also has a brief snippet on an Afghani Journalist attacked in Canada. That doesn’t mean that Canada is “experiencing a strong move towards politics dictated by religious extremism”
Still more.
Stev: it's worth pointing out that the Taliban was demonised (and perhaps rightly so)
Perhaps?
Stev, I can respect that.
Although I cant help criticising your logic.
I've had to personal experience with Nazi Germany- at least not firsthand- I still find that period and its supporters disgusting. Should I not rush to judge Hitler?
I’ve had no personal experience travelling in the United States- I still loath the Presidential system.
Etc, etc. do you see what I mean?
"Afghanistan is a struggling country, a faltering narco-state at the heart of the US "war on terror." Not unlike Iraq, the country is experiencing a strong move towards politics dictated by religious extremism."
The Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan previously, was not a religious extremist state?
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