Amnesty International is reporting that the Iranian government is attacking free speech yet again, with plans to establish "cyber police" to fight "crimes" on the internet.  Amnesty International says that this activity indicates "that they are intensifying their attack on freedom of expression."

In other news, satellite operators NileSat and Badr have dropped Iran’s Arabic-language news network Al-Alam.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against the use of crucifixes in classrooms in Italy. The court ruled on 3 November that secular, state-run schools must "observe confessional neutrality in the context of public education." Read news reports at New York Times, CBS and the BBC.

Bruce Robinson of ReligiousTolerance.org writes us to say that religioustolerance.org was blocked in Saudi Arabia in 2002, and is probably still blocked (can anyone check on this?).  

See:  http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/saudiarabia/SA-R.html and search for "religioustolerance"

Bruce also tells us that "ReligiousTolerance.org now consists of just under 5,000 essays, and receives on the order of 1.2 million visitors a month."

Washington, D.C. event!

Starts

Wednesday, September 30^th 2009 at 7:00 pm

Please join us in celebrating International Blasphemy Day with an Artist Showcase featuring "blasphemous" paintings by artist Dana Ellyn.

What is Blasphemy Day?

International Blasphemy Day is not just a day. It is a movement to dismantle the wall which exists between religion and honest criticism. The objective of International Blasphemy Day is to open up all religious beliefs to the same level of free inquiry, discussion and criticism to which all other areas of academic interest are subjected.

To encourage free expression and to celebrate Blasphemy Day 2009 (September 30), CFI and its sister organization, the Council for Secular Humanism, are sponsoring a Blasphemy Contest.

Blasphemer Bear (yes, you have to see this) Challenges You to Enter CFI’s Blasphemy Contest !!

A politician in Finland has been charged with violating Finland’s blasphemy law. News about this event and a translation of the "blasphemous" comments against Islam and Muhammad is online here.

Here is a sample of the translation. Is it "blasphemy"?

"Prophet Muhammad was a pedophile and Islam revers pedophilia as a religion. Islam is a religion of pedophilia. Pedophilia is Allah’s will."

Amnesty International has issued a report condemning the leaders of Fiji for censorship and human rights abuses.  Fiji’s militarily regime implemented emergency Public Emergency Regulations (PER) in April when the then-independent judiciary ruled that the military takeover was illegal.  Since then, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has abrogated the Constitution and the police have arrested journalists in attempts to intimidate anyone who criticizes those in power. 

Military and police have been placed in Fiji media stations to curb, prohibit, and encourage specific news stories.  According to AI’s report, "the sweeping provisions of the PER is a tactic used to suppress freedom of expression, including any form of dissent."

Another country is using terrorism as a governmental excuse to silence criticism.  J.S. Tissainayagam, a journalist and editor of the now non-existent North Eastern Monthly magazine, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for two articles he published criticizing the Sri Lankan Government’s treatment of its citizens during its civil war with the Tamil Tigers. Tissainayagam is believed to be the first individual convicted under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Tissainayagam was convicted of "causing communal disharmony" by writing articles condemning the government for intentionally withdrawing food to citizens in the Tamil-dominated areas of the country in an attempt to achieve a military advantage.  Upon learning about the conviction, the U.S. State Department said “(j)ournalists remain under threat (in Sri Lanka) and consequently continue to practice self-censorship".  International Federation of Journalists general secretary Aidan White similarly noted that the sentencing is a "chilling reminder of how dangerous Sri Lanka has become for independent journalists".

A concert by Black Eyed Peas to be held in September in Kuala Lumpur will be sponsored by Guinness.  The significance?  Such marketing is generally disallowed by the Malaysian government due to its prohibition of sponsorship by alcohol-making companies within the country.  The catch?  Malaysian Muslims, roughly 60% of the country, have been barred from attending the concert.  Non-Muslim citizens over 18 and over, heard recently to be chanting "Erin Go Bragh", have been encouraged to attend.

Jytte Klausen’s forthcoming book, The Cartoons That Shook the World details the back-story of the 2005 Muslim riots over cartoons
published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that left roughly 200 people dead.

Yale University Press, however, has decided to remove the 12 depictions of Mohammed from the book, as a variety of their consultants have "confirmed that the republication of the cartoons…(runs) a serious risk of instigating violence."  As YUP’s director John Donatich stated, he always publishes press on topics of controversy, but "when it (comes) between that and blood on my hands, there was no question" he would balk.

As Christopher Hitchens so aptly wrote in his article for Slate, "(n)ow we have to say that the mayhem we fear is also our fault, if not indeed our direct responsibility.  This is the worst sort of masochism, and it involves inverting…what might hitherto have been thought of as our concept of moral responsibility."