More Islamic peace, love and tolerance! And people actually take Islam seriously, it would be comical if it weren't so dangerous!
Bruce Sudan editor denies Prophet slur BBC May 06, 2005 Protesters clash with police The protestors clashed with riot police on Thursday A Sudanese Islamist newspaper editor has said charges against him for allegedly questioning the parentage of the Prophet Muhammad are a "joke". Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed told the BBC that he had merely written an essay to dispute such allegations by medieval historian al-Maqrizi. Angry crowds protested outside the court where he appeared this week, demanding that he be put to death. Those who renounce Islam can face the death penalty in Sudan. 'Political' Mr Ahmed told the BBC Arabic service that he was not afraid, despite the demonstrations. Freedom of the press stops when it comes to respect for religions Ali Shumi Sudan's Press Council "I do not feel under threat, and am going about my business as usual. I can go about in the street or anywhere else," he said. Mr Ahmed is a prominent Islamist journalist and has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood political group. "This has been from the very start a political campaign against me. I have been politically active for more than 30 years and there are people who want to damage me." Mr Ahmed's al-Wifaq newspaper has been suspended for three days from Friday by Sudan's Press Council over the article. Clashes Hundreds of people waving banners and chanting "God is great" protested outside the court where he appeared on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, they clashed with riot police. "Oh judges of the Sudan, defend the honour of the Prophet," read one banner. "The court must execute him - this is an insult not to any ordinary man - this is an insult to a prophet," one man said. The protesters made speeches through loudspeakers and handed out statements, demanding that the authorities hand Mr Ahmed over so they could kill him. Flexible Ali Shumi, the head of Sudan's Press Council, said the article insulted the Prophet Muhammad. He denied the charges were an assault on press freedom. "Freedom of the press stops when it comes to respect for religions. Not just for Islam - if you said the same things about Jesus there would be the same punishment," he said. The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Khartoum says that with more than 15 daily papers, Sudan professes to have press freedom but in practice a lot of self-censorship takes place and on occasion the heavy hand of the censor cuts out articles before they go to press. Khartoum has been governed by strict Islamic Sharia law since 1983 - but our correspondent says that in recent years courts have shown a degree of flexibility in their interpretations of Islamic law. The introduction of Sharia exacerbated a rebellion that had begun in the south earlier that year. The war officially ended with a peace agreement in December. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
