Indonesia’s longstanding blasphemy law is getting some vigorous debate, as its Constitutional Court could help amend it.  Indonesia’s Criminal Code forbids "anyone from deliberately, in public, expressing feelings of hostility, hatred or contempt against religions with the purpose of preventing others from adhering to any religion" and it also forbids "anyone from disgracing a religion".

Although several religions are officially recognized in Indonesia, this blasphemy law is typically used to silence any criticism of Islam, the dominant religion. Recent testimony to the Court is arguing that the current strict law restricts religious interpretation and could cause civil strife, as reported by the Jakarta Post. 

Further commentary is available at Jihad Watch and Newsweek.

The New York Times reports: "A Pennsylvania woman who called herself JihadJane was tied Tuesday to an alleged assassination plot against a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the prophet Muhammad atop the body of a dog."

Associated Press reports: "‘Jihad Jane’ suspect wasn’t religious". 

The Paliban Daily is a fine source of news on separation of church and state. This is an amazing story: Catholic Church Asks Parishioners to Cover Costs of Sex Abuse Lawsuits.

Innaiah Narisetti and others have been arrested for distribution of an "anti Islamic" book in India.

An online newspaper for the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh reports the arrests on Saturday.

The India edition of Zeenews gives some details:

The book, ‘Crescent over the World’ a compilation of articles published by M Laxmaiah alias Krantikar, a civil rights activist, contained "objectionable" material against Muslims, Khammam district Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar told agency over phone.

Innaiah Narisetti is the author of Forced Into Faith: How Religion Abuses Children’s Right (Prometheus Books).  Narisetti is the director of the Center for Inquiry/India and he regularly publishes reports on religious abuse and prejudice.

pleaseblock.us gets helpful inspiration from major defenders of free speech around the world. The Index on Censorship is "Britain’s leading organisation promoting freedom of expression" and it offers timely news about violations of free speech.  In recent months, the Index has been forced to report on its own shameful self-censorship.

When the Index published an interview with Jytte Klausen (who published the first scholarly account of the Danish cartoons crisis), the Index refused to print a single Muhammed cartoon with the interview. Ironically, this interview was about her publisher, Yale University Press, which refused to reprint any of the cartoons in the book.

You can read the Index Chief Executive explaining their cowardice here at the start of the interview.  There was some bravery on the Index Board: irate member Kenan Malik dissented from the no-print decision: "(W)here was the threat? Index certainly received none because no one knew that we were going to publish. Nor is there any reason to believe that there would have been danger had the cartoons not been pre-emptively censored." 

Wendy Kaminer has blogged on this shameful incident at the Index. Her point is our point: Self-censorship is just as morally bankrupt as censorship by government, and perhaps more dangerous in the long run. 

More news: Gary Hull has just published Muhammad: The "Banned" Images.

Geert Wilders is now on trial in Holland. He is accused of violating Articles 137(c) and (d) of the Dutch criminal code for group insult of Muslims, inciting hatred of and discrimination against Muslims due to their religion, and fomenting hatred of non-Western immigrants. The alleged offences include Mr Wilders’ film Fitna, which shows images of 9/11 and beheadings interspersed with verses from the Koran.

See Wilder’s opening statement in this trial.