Newsgroup: it.cultura.religioni.cristiani
Titolo: Blasphemy ban

AP Exclusive: Muslim countries seek blasphemy ban
By FRANK JORDANS (AP) -- Nov 19, 2009
GENEVA --- Four years after cartoons of the prophet Muhammad set off 
violent protests across the Muslim world, Islamic nations are mounting a 
campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and 
beliefs from mockery --- essentially a ban on blasphemy that would put 
them on a collision course with free speech laws in the West.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that Algeria and 
Pakistan have taken the lead in lobbying to eventually bring the 
proposal to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly.
If ratified in countries that enshrine freedom of expression as a 
fundamental right, such a treaty would require them to limit free speech 
if it risks seriously offending religious believers. The process, 
though, will take years and no showdown is imminent.
The proposal faces stiff resistance from Western countries, including 
the United States, which in the past has brushed aside other U.N. 
treaties, such as one on the protection of migrant workers.
Experts say the bid stands some chance of eventual success if Muslim 
countries persist. And whatever the outcome, the campaign risks 
reigniting tensions between Muslims and the West that President Barack 
Obama has pledged to heal, reviving fears of a "clash of civilizations."
Four years ago, a Danish newspaper published cartoons lampooning the 
prophet Muhammad, prompting angry mobs to attack Western embassies in 
Muslim countries, including Lebanon, Iran and Indonesia. In a 
countermovement, several European newspapers reprinted the images.
The countries that form the 56-member Organization of the Islamic 
Conference are now lobbying a little-known Geneva-based U.N. committee 
to agree that a treaty protecting religions is necessary.
The move would be a first step toward drafting an international protocol 
that would eventually be put before the General Assembly --- a process 
that could take a decade or more.
The proposal may have some support in the General Assembly. For several 
years the Islamic Conference has successfully passed a nonbinding 
resolution at the General Assembly condemning "defamation of religions."
If the treaty was approved, any of the U.N.'s 192 member states that 
ratified it would be bound by its provisions. Other countries could face 
criticism for refusing to join.
Just last month, the Obama administration came out strongly against 
efforts by Islamic nations to bar the defamation of religions, saying 
the moves would restrict free speech.
"Some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to 
implement so-called anti-defamation policies that would restrict freedom 
of expression and the freedom of religion," Secretary of State Hillary 
Rodham Clinton said. "I strongly disagree."
But there are signs the U.S. is worried by the Islamic Conference 
campaign. Behind the scenes it has been lobbying hard to quash the 
proposal, dispatching a senior U.S. diplomat to Geneva last month for 
talks described as akin to trench warfare.
"The U.S. presence can be significant in determining the whole destiny 
of the process," said Lukas Machon, who represents the International 
Commission of Jurists at the U.N.
 From a legal point of view, "the whole exercise is dangerous from A-Z 
because it's a departure from the practice and concept of human rights," 
Machon said. "It adds only restrictions."
In a letter obtained by the AP, Pakistan said insults against religion 
were on the increase.
The Islamic Conference "believes that the attack on sacredly held 
beliefs and the defamation of religions, religious symbols, 
personalities and dogmas impinge on the enjoyment of human rights of 
followers of those religions," the letter said. It was sent last month 
to members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Complementary Standards, a 
temporary committee created to consider a previous anti-racism treaty.
In a separate submission to the committee, Pakistan proposed extending 
the treaty against racism to require signatories to "prohibit by law the 
uttering of matters that are grossly abusive or insulting in relation to 
matters held sacred by any religion."
It's not clear who would decide what is considered grossly abusive, but 
each country's criminal courts would likely have initial jurisdiction 
over that decision, according to Marghoob Saleem Butt, a Pakistani 
diplomat in Geneva who confirmed the campaign's existence and has 
lobbied for the ban.
"There has to be a balance between freedom of expression and respect for 
others," Butt said in a telephone interview.
"Taking the symbol of a whole religion and portraying him as a 
terrorist," said Butt, referring to the Muhammad cartoons, "that is 
where we draw the line."
One American expert with more than 20 years experience of the U.N. human 
rights system said the treaty could have far-reaching implications.
"It would, in essence, advance a global blasphemy law," said Felice 
Gaer, a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious 
Freedom. The independent, congressionally mandated panel issued a report 
last week warning that existing laws against blasphemy, including in 
Pakistan, "often have resulted in gross human rights violations."
In Egypt, blasphemy laws have been used to suppress dissidents, said 
Moataz el-Fegiery, executive director of the Cairo Institute for Human 
Rights Studies. Abdel Kareem Nabil, a blogger, was sentenced in February 
2007 to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egyptian President 
Hosni Mubarak.
He said reformists who reinterpret traditional Islamic texts have also 
become the target of blasphemy accusations.
More broadly, introducing laws to protect religions from criticism would 
weaken the whole notion of human rights, said Sweden's ambassador to the 
U.N. in Geneva, Hans Dahlgren.
"Religions as such do not have rights --- it's people who have rights," he 
said, adding that the European Union, whose presidency Sweden currently 
holds, would oppose attempts to limit freedom of speech.
The treaty goes against the grain of recent efforts by Western and 
Muslim countries to find common ground on human rights.
Only last month a joint U.S.-Egyptian resolution on freedom of 
expression won unanimous support in the U.N. Human Rights Council, much 
to the surprise of seasoned observers. "We will engage, and we're going 
to keep engaging," said Michael Parmly, spokesman for the U.S. Mission 
in Geneva.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, the Ad Hoc Committee's chairman, 
Algerian Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, said concerns the treaty could 
stifle free speech have been "whipped up into a bugaboo."
Failure to agree on a treaty would boost extremists in the Arab world, 
said Jazairy, a former envoy to Washington now considered a key player 
in the U.N.'s human rights forum.
"If we keep hitting this glass wall and say there's nothing you can do 
about Islamophobia --- you can do something about anti-Semitism but 
Islamophobia is out of bounds --- you give an ideal platform for 
recruitment of suicide bombers," he said.
-- 
La strategia di Satana ï¿œ questa: a chi ï¿œ buono gli toglie l'intelligenza 
e gli dï¿œ tanta buona volontï¿œ in modo tale che con tanta buona volontï¿œ, a 
fin di bene, faccia sempre peggio.
(P. Silvano Fausti)
---
bonaiu...@gmail.com


calmati Buonaiuti. E caspita io sono stata censurata dai moderatori per una 
battuta che non era neanche blasfema.I nostri moderatori come i paesi 
islamici, pensa un po'. 

 them on a collision course with free speech laws in the West.
Insomma, una eventuale votazione sulla quale il Vaticano, per una volta,
non avrebbe problemi ad esprimersi a favore, insieme a Pakistan, Egitto,
Algeria, Iran, etc. etc.
-- 
Saluti, Il Crampo Di Gesso
"el universo, con su elegante dotaci�n de anaqueles, de tomos enigm�ticos,
de infatigables escaleras para el viajero y de letrinas para el
bibliotecario sentado, s�lo puede ser obra de un dios"
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