Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_facebook_atheist;_ylt=AnqlGYkrezzD9HYfnYu_MbtvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJ0a25jM2hjBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMTEyL21sX3BhbGVzdGluaWFuc19mYWNlYm9va19hdGhlaXN0BHBvcwM2BHNlYwN5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrA3BhbGVzdGluaWFuaA--

QALQILIYA, West Bank – A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.

The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.

Residents of Qalqiliya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin — the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar — was leading a double life.

Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly posting anti-religion rants on the Internet during his free time.

Now, he faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence." Many in this conservative Muslim town say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.

"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.

Over several years, Husayin is suspected of posting arguments in favor of atheism on English and Arabic blogs, where he described the God of Islam as having the attributes of a "primitive Bedouin." He called Islam a "blind faith that grows and takes over people's minds where there is irrationality and ignorance."

If that wasn't enough, he is also suspected of creating three Facebook groups in which he sarcastically declared himself God and ordered his followers, among other things, to smoke marijuana in verses that spoof the Muslim holy book, the Quran. At its peak, Husayin's Arabic-language blog had more than 70,000 visitors, overwhelmingly from Arab countries.

His Facebook groups elicited hundreds of angry comments, detailed death threats and the formation of more than a dozen Facebook groups against him, including once called "Fight the blasphemer who said `I am God.'"

The outburst of anger reflects the feeling in the Muslim world that their faith is under mounting attack by the West. This sensitivity has periodically turned violent, such as the street protests that erupted in 2005 after cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad were published in Denmark or after Pope Benedict XVI suggested the Prophet Muhammad was evil the following year. The pope later retracted his comment.

Husayin is the first to be arrested in the West Bank for his religious views, said Tayseer Tamimi, the former chief Islamic judge in the area.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is among the more religiously liberal Arab governments in the region. It is dominated by secular elites and has frequently cracked down on hardline Muslims and activists connected to its conservative Islamic rival, Hamas.

Husayin's high public profile and prickly style, however, left authorities no choice but to take action.

Husayin used a fake name on his English and Arabic-language blogs and Facebook pages. After his mother discovered articles on atheism on his computer, she canceled his Internet connection in hopes that he would change his mind.

Instead, he began going to an Internet cafe — a move that turned out to be a costly mistake. The owner, Ahmed Abu-Asal, said the blogger aroused suspicion by spending up to seven hours a day in a corner booth. After several months, a cafe worker supplied captured snapshots of his Facebook pages to Palestinian intelligence officials.

Officials monitored him for several weeks and then arrested him on Oct. 31 as he sat in the cafe, said Abu-Asal.

Husayin's family has been devastated by the arrest. On a recent day, his father stood sadly in the family barber shop, cluttered with colorful towels and posters of men in outdated haircuts. He requested that a reporter not write about his son to avoid being publicly shamed.

Two cousins attributed the writings to depression, saying Husayin was desperate to find better work. Requesting anonymity because of the shame the incident, they said Husayin's mother wants him to remain in prison for life — both to restore the family's honor and to protect him from vigilantes.

The case is the second high-profile arrest connected in the West Bank connected to Facebook activity. In late September, a reporter for a news station sympathetic to Hamas was arrested and detained for more than a month after he was tagged in a Facebook image that insulted the Palestinian president.

Gaza's Hamas rulers also stalk Facebook pages of suspected dissenters, said Palestinian rights activist Mustafa Ibrahim. He said Internet cafe owners are forced to monitor customers' online activity, and alert intelligence officials if they see anything critical of the militant group or that violates Hamas' stern interpretation of Islam.

Both governments also create fake Facebook profiles to befriend and monitor known dissidents, activists said. In September, a young Gaza man was detained after publishing an article critical of Hamas on his Facebook feed.

Such "stalking" on Facebook and other social media sites has become increasingly common in the Arab world. In Lebanon, four people were arrested over the summer and accused of slandering President Michel Suleiman on Facebook. All have been released on bail.

In neighboring Syria, Facebook is blocked altogether. And in Egypt, a blogger was charged with atheism in 2007 after intelligence officials monitored his posts.

Husayin has not been charged but remains in detention, said Palestinian security spokesman Adnan Damiri.

He could face a life sentence if he's found guilty, depending on how harshly the judge thinks he attacked Islam and how widely his views were broadcast, said Islamic scholar Tamimi.

Even so, a small minority has questioned whether the government went too far.

Zainab Rashid, a liberal Palestinian commentator, wrote in an online opinion piece that Husayin has made an important point: "that criticizing religious texts for their (intellectual) weakness can only be combatted by ... oppression, prison and execution."

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

"Now, he faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence." Many in this conservative Muslim town say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members say he should remain behind bars for life."

Such intolerant savages.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Loved the 'he should be burned to death' as an example quote! Very tolerant, very loving.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Islamic love....

Edited November 13, 2010 by Why_Me

[Saddle Bronc 124]

The incident reminds me of an old Soviet-era joke:

"A Muscovite was arrested for calling the Minister of Culture a fool. The court gave him 20 years--five for slander, and the other 15 for revealing a State Secret."

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Islamic love....

Christian love . . .

Pope accused of ignoring pleas to stop priest who molested 200 deaf boys

Richard Owen, Rome

Pope Benedict XVI was drawn deeper yesterday into the clerical sex abuse scandal that has begun to overwhelm the Roman Catholic Church, when he was accused of personally failing to take action against a serial paedophile.

The Pope was blamed directly for ignoring repeated pleas by senior American churchmen to take action against a priest who had molested up to 200 deaf boys.

Father Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at the St John’s School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin, from 1950 to 1974, starting as a teacher and rising to director, allegedly molested scores of pupils, preying on his victims in their dormitories and on class trips.

But instead of being defrocked and the police called in, it is alleged that Father Murphy avoided justice and remained a member of the Church after a key intervention by the Pope — then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Murphy was quietly moved to the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin in 1974 and spent his last 24 years working freely with children in parishes and schools. He died in 1998 at the age of 72, still a priest.

In 1996 Monsignor Rembert Weakland, then the Archbishop of Milwaukee, twice wrote about Father Murphy to the current Pope — who was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at that time, a position he held between 1982 and 2005 — requesting that Father Murphy be defrocked after admitting to the abuse. Documents obtained by The New York Times show that Archbishop Weakland told Cardinal Ratzinger that he was referring the case to him as head of doctrine, not least because the priest was alleged to have used his role during confession to solicit victims.

Archbishop Weakland said his aim was to defuse anger among the abused and to restore their trust in the Church. Cardinal Ratzinger did not reply.

Nonetheless, eight months later Father Murphy was subject of a secret canonical trial — one using internal Church law — ordered by Cardinal Ratzinger’s deputy at Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Cardinal Bertone is now the Pope’s right-hand man as Secretary of State, or the Vatican prime minister.

The trial was halted after Father Murphy wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger protesting that he had already repented and was in poor health, adding that the case had run out of time under the Church’s own statute of limitations because it related to allegations made more than two decades previously. “I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood,” Father Murphy told Cardinal Ratzinger, adding: “I ask for your kind assistance in this matter.” Cardinal Bertone agreed, saying that the priest should instead repent, undertake a spiritual retreat and be restricted from celebrating Mass outside his diocese.

“This Dicastery [Vatican administrative department] has every hope that the priest in question will demonstrate a willingness to co-operate in the solution to this painful case which will favour the good of souls and avoid scandal,” wrote Monsignor Bertone.

The documents on the Murphy case were made public by lawyers representing five men who have brought lawsuits against the archdiocese of Milwaukee. They include letters between bishops and the Vatican, victims’ affidavits, handwritten notes by a sexual disorders expert who interviewed Father Murphy and minutes of a final meeting on the case at the Vatican.

A letter from Monsignor Bertone later in 1998, after Father Murphy had died, said: “This Dicastery commends Fr Murphy to the mercy of God and shares with you the hope that the Church will be spared any undue publicity from this matter.”

Victims of Father Murphy’s abuse said yesterday that the Pope should be held responsible. Arthur Budzinksi, 61, said: “The Pope knew about this. He should be held accountable. I believe somebody should be punished.”

Continues at link . . .

[ready4ONE 5,400]

That was a lengthy post did I miss the Catholic being quoted as believing someone deserved being burned to death as justice?

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Facebook sucks.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

That was a lengthy post did I miss the Catholic being quoted as believing someone deserved being burned to death as justice?

For decades, the hierarchy of the world's largest Christian denomination sheltered priests who actually committed sex acts on children, but, somehow, that is less offensive to you than one individual expressing a personal opinion, affecting no one.

Figures.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Facebook sucks.

It's the most popular website in the world.

Sounds like you don't have a grasp on that reality. :whistle:

BOING!

[spookyturtle 9,465]

It's the most popular website in the world.

Sounds like you don't have a grasp on that reality. :whistle:

BOING!

Popular doesn't mean good. Ask Obama.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

For decades, the hierarchy of the world's largest Christian denomination sheltered priests who actually committed sex acts on children, but, somehow, that is less offensive to you than one individual expressing a personal opinion, affecting no one.

Figures.

Actually if you read my posts in this thread you would see I agreed and defended your statement that the Muslims in the OP were behaving simlar to the dueche crew Westborough Baptists. Offensive and innapropriate, but via language and not bombs.

Pedophile Priests are fairly irrelevant to the OP unless you have a quote from a Catholic suggesting burning said Priests as examples.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Popular doesn't mean good. Ask Obama.

Obama has a 46% rating. That is not popular. Facebook has 500 million users. Grasp reality much? :whistle:

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Obama has a 46% rating. That is not popular. Facebook has 500 million users. Grasp reality much? :whistle:

Yet Reagan with a lower rating at this same junctior was popular. Go figure!

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Actually if you read my posts in this thread you would see I agreed and defended your statement that the Muslims in the OP were behaving simlar to the dueche crew Westborough Baptists. Offensive and innapropriate, but via language and not bombs.

Pedophile Priests are fairly irrelevant to the OP unless you have a quote from a Catholic suggesting burning said Priests as examples.

The pedophile article was my response to a post that read simply "Islamic love"; it was quite relevant to that post and equally snarky. YOU may be stuck on a one-liner personal opinion that means nothing, but that doesn't obligate me in any way. I'm absorbing the denial re Christian bad actors. It's absolutely fascinating, and a little scary.

Edited November 14, 2010 by Sofiyya