Yet another glimpse into the future of the U.S. This can’t happen here, you say? We respect the freedom of speech, you say? Maybe that was true at one time, but it is no longer. Cowardice is pandemic. Newspapers all over the country refused to republish the notorious Muhammad cartoons out of a newfound “respect” for Islam that they never showed for negative portrayals of Christianity, which they hailed as “courageous.” Those who call attention to the ideological roots of jihad violence are already excoriated as “inciting hatred” and smeared as racist, bigoted “Islamophobes.” Most organizations on both the Left and the Right would never dare feature such people as speakers. Any organization that does is immediately denounced and called upon to apologize, and it usually does. So given that this is the climate today, what do you think the situation will be like in ten or twenty years?
“Prosecution of blogger over Quran parody ignites renewed fears of censorship,” by Barrett Limoges, Al-Monitor, June 2, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Protesters assembled at a courthouse in central Tunis on the morning of May 28, waving placards as preliminary hearings got underway in a highly charged and unusual criminal case of blasphemy.
On May 6, the Tunis prosecutor for the Court of First Instance charged blogger and student Emna Chargui, 27, with “offending authorized religions” and “inciting hatred between religions” after a Ramadan Facebook post ignited furor across Tunisian social media. The case has roiled Tunisia’s largely conservative society, igniting impassioned protests among human rights activists and exposing deep cultural divides in a nation that has been widely regarded as a bastion of free speech in the Arab world.
Chargui uploaded a satirical image earlier in the month to her Facebook profile titled “The Sura of Corona,” a post that seemed to imitate a Quranic verse in diction, flow and visual appearance. Lyrically invoking events of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has swept the world in recent months, the verse described a virus from China that will eliminate the differences “between kings and slaves,” slipping in a final line about washing your hands with good soap. The piece was reportedly penned by a friend living in neighboring Algeria.
Online reaction to the post was swift and overwhelming, as enraged messages lit up social media during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, even drawing condemnation from Issam Chebbi, secretary-general of the Al-Jomhouri party. In a Facebook post, Chebbi urged the judiciary to prosecute Chargui, claiming that “the state is charged with protecting the sacred and prohibiting any infringement.”
According to her lawyer Ines Trabelsi, death threats also swamped Chargui’s inbox.
Amid the furor, public prosecutors quickly took notice. On May 4, two days after the post appeared online, judicial police summoned Chargui for the first in a series of questioning, which culminated in formal charges later that week. She now faces up to three years in prison, and a fine of 2,000 Tunisian dinars ($700)….
The trial of Chargui echoes a similar case from 2012, when Tunisian bloggers Ghazi Beji and Jabeur Mejri were charged with “transgressing morality” after they posted naked caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad online. Mejri was ultimately sentenced to seven years in prison, while Beji escaped to claim political asylum in Europe and was convicted in absentia.
Some fear that blasphemy allegations can also be used to silence dissenting voices in the political arena. Fearing prosecution and violence, LGTBQI rights activist and openly gay former presidential candidate Mounir Baatour fled to France late last year, claiming an organized defamation campaign had spread rumors that he insulted the prophet online.
“Freedom of expression is still not totally protected in Tunisia, and there are existing gaps and contractions between good intentions and reality,” Amna Guellali, the deputy director for North Africa at Amnesty International, told Al-Monitor. “This case has a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Tunisia and says that people who even ironically touch on religion, or do so in a way that isn’t linked by the majority, can be liable to prosecution.”…