Journalist Arrested By Interpol For Tweet 915
New submitter StarWreck writes "Police in Kuala Lumpur detained Hamza Kashgari, 23, 'following a request made to us by Interpol' on behalf of the Saudi authorities. Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet which read: 'I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you I will not pray for you.' Said tweet sparked outrage in Saudi Arabia and resulted in multiple death threats. Kashgari faces the death penalty in Saudi Arabia."
and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Can someone enlighten me, please?
Much of the world has "illegal speech" (Score:5, Insightful)
And it's not just those backwards fools everyone in the middle east talks about. There are upstanding, progressive regimes in Europe where there are literally things you can say that don't involve a threat of violence or which won't cause immediate danger to those around you ("I'm going to kill you!" or "Fire!") which are still considered illegal.
It's cute because these same nations are held up by many as paragons of virtue in terms of human rights, health care, standard of living, etc... Just don't voice an illegal opinion and you'll be fine, that's all.
In other Developments (Score:4, Insightful)
The US Demanded that Interpol Arrest all the millions of citizens of the world who have at some time or another demanded 'Death to the US'. They even cited a number of people who led the demonstrations against the Vietnam war in the late 1960's.
Ok, so I'm joking but it shows how absurd this is.
I'll be waiting for a knock at the door and my speedy extradition to the USA where no doubt I'll get 999 years in Jail for daring to criticise the USofA.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Just my opinion though.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Malaysia is a Sharia law country, if you are fleeing from Muslim authorities this is the last kind of place you go.
Re:Much of the world has "illegal speech" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Interpol doesn't arrest (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't buy it that interpol can get out of it's part of this by saying that they "don't judge the merits of the warrants". They played a part in this and they need to be held to account. Turning a blind eye whilst helping such a cause holds as much water as "I was only following orders".
Re:Bad title. (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact Saudi Arabia has an inhumane legal system is widely known and as long as we want their oil it is not likely to change, but Interpol has done something against the moral values enshrined in their own constitution and the persons responsible should be challenged.
Fuck you all (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm just gonna say it right out. Fuck Muhammad and Islam, Fuck Jesus and Christianity and Fuck you and all religions where you have to pray to show devotion and destroy your enemies. Got to love this world. One one side you're getting fucked by your government, right next to it you are getting fucked by corporation and right next to that you're a target some some fucking religious freaks that instead of keeping away from you and minding their own business are trying to enslave or kill you.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's important to understand that peace [wikipedia.org] doesn't mean the same thing to everybody.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Such extremism isn't the sole domain of the religious, and I say that as an atheist. The assholes will always find some way to legitimize their assholeness, if not religion then some other idealogy like nationalism, racism, economics, etc.
Re:I am saudi (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
This is exactly the type of extremism that turns me away from religion, and that applies to all forms of it.
That's not specific to religion. If in the former Soviet Union you had said that you don't think communism is a good idea, your life wouldn't exactly have been safe either.
Re:Much of the world has "illegal speech" (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Seems More Extreme Than Usual (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:0, Insightful)
Whoa, that's a pretty broad brush you are painting with there. Let's not forget the millions of Muslim people who do not support terrorism and are as peaceful and law-abiding as most of the Christians in the world. And even Christians had their crusades.
About the only two groups who haven't waged wars for their religion (or lack of one) are atheists and Buddhists, but the rest of the world's religions have all had their fringe elements, and those fringe elements are by definition not representative of the whole.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually he should be able to tweet everything whichdoes not violate twitter's TOS.
But of course, the worst thing which should happen when violating those is having the twitter account cancelled.
Re:Fuck you all (Score:2, Insightful)
The two greatest causes of oppression and death throughout time are politics and religion, the worst atrocities occuring when they get together. Recognition of this being a major reason that separation of church and state were included by the founding fathers in the USA constitution.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems to me the moral of the story is don't use Twitter. Wasn't there a recent case of some girls getting sent back to England from LA because they'd Tweeted that they were going to "destroy America". I seem to remember rather a lot of people on Slashdot not being very sympathetic. But suddenly it's freedom of speech?
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
He should be able to tweet whatever the hell he wants.
Probably a good idea not to be a foreigner in Malaysia then.
Re:Much of the world has "illegal speech" (Score:3, Insightful)
There are Warm and Fuzzy Progressive countries in Europe that make saying certain opinion-related words a crime. We're not talking about fraud, or inciting a riot, or anything like that. That's lefties for you! Peace, harmony, equal rights and free stuff for everyone, as long as they don't say certain naughty and un-Progressive things, or paint Incorrect Pictures, etc. In which case it's off to jail.
Interesting turn around, given that the story is about the not infrequent scenario of religious CONSERVATIVES wanting DEATH for what someone said. You have to be particularly ignorant to try and spin that round the lefties being against free speech.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Interpol doesn't arrest (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure he'll enjoy his hearing where he knows that a bad outcome there will lead to near certain death. That sounds harmful.
Unlike the home owner in your example, Interpol is in no danger whatsoever of finding itself and it's family replacing the guy it helps if caught. I would argue that the homeowner that refuses to help even if he can do so with no consequences to himself IS actually complicit. Several states in the U.S. have laws consistent with that view where failing to render aid where the victim's life is at stake where one may safely do so is in itself a crime.
Meanwhile, in actuality, Interpol in this case is more like the homeowner that says "There they are" when the Nazis come looking for Jews. They did not just passively watch when evil took place, the actively played a part in facilitating it.
Re:Bad title. (Score:5, Insightful)
and as long as we want their oil it is not likely to change
Oil doesn't change human nature. It's not a magical substance that makes people evil. Nor is the Saudia Arabian government unusually bad in some way. It'd be considered an enlightened and open government for the 16th century. But as you have no doubt noticed, it's no longer the 16th century. What has changed is our expectations from government.
How can God be damaged by words? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
What an excellent display of tolerance and peaceful behavior.
This is a perfect example of the irrationality of religion. All religions seem to believe that unless you believe exactly what I believe your are inferior and deserve to have your life terminated in a terrible and painful way... in the name of "God", of course. Give me a break!
Re:Much of the world has "illegal speech" (Score:4, Insightful)
Lol, now you're also trying to pretend all religious "CONSERVATIVES" are the same. I'm atheist, myself, but even I can see the difference between your typical bible thumper here in the states and an Islamic radical who wants to behead a woman for having the audacity to be raped. Not that there aren't radical kook Christians who are insane as well, but by and large it's far less common.
Your false, pointless dichotomy is fucking amusing to me. Let's grow beyond being 5 years old and look at censorship independently of what someone else is doing. I condemn assholes who want "DEATH" for what someone said. I also condemn assholes who want PRISON or FINES for what someone said because it offends their delicate worldview.
Re:Much of the world has "illegal speech" (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm unclear about the number of levels of indirection and sarcasm in your first paragraph due to that last sentence. Therefore I will ignore the last sentence and play your first paragraph as mostly straight.
Yes, homophobia is acceptable as is spouting racism. Hating women is fine too. Just don't assault someone and you can be as much of a homophobic, racist, sexist fuckstain as you want.
Re:how is that an insult? (Score:4, Insightful)
You expect religious types to be rational?
As for Interpol, it is my understanding that all they do is process the warrants. They only check that it's got the right signatures on it, and leave the countries to work out whether it should go through or not and that it gets to the right parts of the government. Kinda like ISPs arguing they have common carrier status.
Re:In other Developments (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps. Probably? Wouldn't it be nice if there were some sort of system by which evidence could be presented and and people could defend themselves before some sort of impartial authority who could judge them. Perhaps throw in a group of their peers to render a verdict.
Problem here is "racism" (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with this statement is very simple. If you actually implement this, you are basically making it impossible for muslims to live their religion. It is how their culture works and self-polices. Cut this out, and you destroy it.
Additionally, this is no joke. Saudis and a lot of muslims will scream (quite literally sometimes) about racism if you criticise their attitude towards "hate speech" (executing anyone they perceive as insulting, and there's plenty of example where the person didn't even say anything, it was just "generally thought" (sometimes because of lying) that he said/did/... something). Reading the actual primary sources of the religion, it's plain and obvious that this is how islam works, and they're vastly more flexible than the muslim example. The prophet had people buried in sand in the desert to watch them die for criticizing him.
Cutting out this means flat out declaring the central figure of islam to be an inhuman moronic, cruel paedophilic bastard.
Of course, that's exactly what he was.
Until we face this reality, and force muslims to accept people saying this everywhere on this world, this won't end.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
In Western theological terms, that's like saying that Christ is an inspirational person with some really interesting teachings, but not the Son of God.
There are days you see this five times before breakfast ... and yet no killings, no nothing.
It's called "freedom of religion". Muslims demand it from others, like the west, so why do they get to do this ?
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
This tweet got posted on several important websites, and this is a sort-of important person. Their religion demands they execute him for this, and they can't publicly ignore that. Ask a "western" muslim about this, you'll be horrified by their response. I guarantee it.
So they didn't have to pour over tweets. The "police" got this shoved in their face.
Note that no-one forced any muslim to kill people over the muhammad cartoons. This is sort of like that. Their prophet publicly and cruelly executed anyone who criticized him as soon as he could get away with it. Not "taking" insults is very important to muslim culture.
All of this doesn't mean that they don't pour over everyone's tweets though. They do. Or at least, they try. Luckily, they're about as capable and effective as your average government.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:1, Insightful)
Probably a good idea not to be a foreigner in Malaysia then.
Or to plan to visit the US.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
There are days you see this five times before breakfast ... and yet no killings, no nothing.
It's called "freedom of religion". Muslims demand it from others, like the west, so why do they get to do this ?
It's called "hypocrisy" and it's a staple in most major religions.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:2, Insightful)
You're making a logical, historical and accurate argument to these guys.
Muslims say "agree with us or we kill you"
Guess which side they will "honorably" take "out of free will" ? The nonviolent one ? Well, they'll certainly claim to take the nonviolent side, it just won't be the one we all know to be nonviolent.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the moral of the story is NOT "don't use twitter". The moral in this story is that Islam is stuck in the iron age and still believes barbaric things. The moral of the story about the two English fellows getting sent back is that USA border guards have no sense of humour.
Re:Moronic equivalence argument (Score:4, Insightful)
Some religions are worse than others. Pacifists generally don't run about murdering people. "Moderate" members of most mainstream religions don't generally murder people for saying they have silly beliefs.
But all religions promote irrational belief without any supporting evidence. All religions promote adhering to some beliefs no matter how barbaric, and then acting on those beliefs. All religions make it a virtue to ignore evidence, and promote stubborn pig headedness.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Stalin did NOT collect stamps. This lack of stamp collecting was of course the main reason his leadership led to some much death and suffering. We must immediately promote stamp collecting to stop this sort of grievous crime from every happening again.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Rome allowed lots of religions. As time went by the faithful came to be an armable resource for use in local conquests as well as resiting local conquests by others. Religions came to see that they must supervise their flocks closely. Catholics were like this back in the old days. Reformation allowed for fragmentation and large numbers broke away. In the UK under 5% go to church, same in Canada. Scientology and Islam go to great lengths to keep their adherents - frequent prayer in groups, punishment of breakaways, etc. They both need a reformation. No-one seriously thinks of scientology as a religion - it is a racket. I happen to feel all religion is a racket.
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:5, Insightful)
I have very few problems with invisible wizards, provided they do not order large mobs to kill others.
Needless to say, islam's invisible wizard is found lacking.
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:2, Insightful)
Aww shucks! Do you mean to say that religious fanatics are unreasoning, mindless, violent robots, blindly following the dictates and interpretations of bronze and iron madmen who hallucinated that God and archangels told them to kill and conquer everything/everybody for (fill in the blank's) glory, etc!
The single greatest cause of death in human history is religion!
Re:How can God be damaged by words? (Score:4, Insightful)
As far as Muslims are concerned, God himself - through Muhammad - has indicated that he wants them to execute blasphemers and apostates in His name - so they are simply doing as ordered.
Going into more details, Islam is somewhat different from Christianity in that it does not focus overly on perfect faith. It is certainly desirable, but it is recognized that many - indeed, most - people do not achieve that kind of perfection. Hence why Islam has that whole Shariah part, which is supposed to be the law for running the society in such a way that nudges people, even unbelievers, towards that state, by removing temptations to stray, and imitating the righteous behavior.
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:5, Insightful)
While I agree with your critique of religious fanatics, I do have to step in and correct you on the "single greatest cause of death." Mao and Stalin lead that charge (I forget which one has more blood on his hands), and if you're going to lump "religion" in as one big cause of death it'd be hard to avoid lumping "socialist totalitarian states" as one big cause of death.
If you want to claim that each of them were essentially demanding that society treat the State as sacrosanct, and the leadership of said State as worthy of worship, well, that's a different argument.
But lets keep our facts straight; they're what separates science from superstition.
As an atheist... (Score:4, Insightful)
As an atheist, my list of "do not visit" countries is getting longer and longer.
When the fuck are we humans going to make it properly out of the dark ages?
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
Riiiight, because _beliefs_ are the root cause of all the stupidities and atrocities ever committed by theists and atheists.
Oh wait, it is IMMATURE ACTIONS.
Tell me again which religion developed and USED the atomic bomb??
Getting rid of religion wouldn't change a dam thing (and neither would everyone having proof that "God is meta-physical.")
What you are blind to is:
EVERYONE has faith.
Even the atheists.
You have _faith_ that the sun will come up tomorrow. That is "grounded faith". You can't prove it until AFTER the event happens, at which point it becomes FACT.
No, the problem is not grounded-faith, blind-faith, nor belief. The ROOT problem INTOLERANCE. All the idiot fundamentalists of whatever belief smoking the false belief that "MY Way is the ONLY way." _ALL_ Religions, Philosophies, Beliefs, have BOTH strengths and weaknesses. Only the arrogant and ignorant toss the baby out with the bath water generalizing how X, Y, and Z beliefs are no good.
EVERY scripture / bible / "holy book" teaches the same thing: "Respect ALL THINGS."
It is only when people become addicted to power that they twist "good intentions" to suit THEIR wants, desires, and needs.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Stalin killed for an ideology - one that justified killing for a greater cause. Atheism wasn't the source of that sense of justification, Communism was.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Except even in Muslim terms, the Prophet is not regarded the same way as Christians view the Christ. He is a prophet to them, on the level that Isaiah was to the Israelites, but he is not a saviour nor does he self-represent as being a deity.
Proper respect for the Prophet himself is an issue Muslims often fail to deal with I find, not knowing whether to revere him (and thus possibly blaspheme by treating him as a God figure) or treat him too lowly and seem disrespectful.
Similar problems exist for the reverence of Mary among some Christian groups.
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:5, Insightful)
Ain't gonna happen, especially not with regards to Saudi Arabia. The US Federal Government *loves* Saudi Arabia, because its rulers are pretty much amenable to whatever they want, as it benefits them as well.
The Feds love the fact that they don't have to deal with that pesky "Constitution thing", when pursuing imperialism overseas. They can just say "It wasn't us! It was them!" if anything should come back to haunt them... but it doesn't, usually, because they aren't directly involved in implementing Saudi domestic policy.
After all, Saudi Arabia is a sovereign nation, right? God forbid that the US Federal Government should interfere with that!
Sarcastically/cynically,
dj
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:2, Insightful)
Seventy years of Mao & Stalin vs two thousand of Christian/Muslim mass extermination, torture, Hmm?
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or you could try to open a Jewish Temple in Saudi Arabia. Islam is a tolerant, peaceful religion, we're told.
Re:How can God be damaged by words? (Score:5, Insightful)
Bring on the blasphemy, it's the only way we can fight this bullshit.
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:4, Insightful)
Spoken like an atheist (because if what they believe in does not exist, then it's all the same).
Just because the three religions are monotheistic doesn't mean they all refer to the same God. At the very least, the three assert some different and incompatible things about God, so they refer to distinct Gods, and/or contain theological errors. The Muslims, for example, perceive the Christians as polytheists, worshipping three Gods (the Trinity). The Jews worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the Muslims fork off their religion after Abraham, following the genealogy of Ishmael (Abraham's son by his wife's maid). If those two are both the same God, then one of the central tenets of Islam ("there is one God and Mohammed is His prophet") is incorrect because it does not recognise the Jewish prophets, or the Jews are wrong for considering the likes of Isaiah to be a prophet.
The fact that your comment got modded up to "5 Informative" is a sad indictment on the moderators for elevating their contempt for religion over actual facts and reason. And why, oh why am I even bothering to respond to atheist dogmatism with a reasoned response? It never achieves anything.
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:and where is exactly the problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
What I find most despicable, is that Interpol did this.
I assume tweeting the above text is not a felony in Kuala Lumpur, so they have no business doing this.
Does this mean that Interpol could arrest me, just for posting the following text :
"'I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you I will not pray for you"
It's not even clear it's talking about Saudi-Arabia.
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:4, Insightful)
"It's the same God".
Bah. Different holy books preaching different ideologies and virtues in the name of God. The Gods mentioned can hardly be called the same.
So basically, this is like All Star Superman, Red Son Superman, Old School Superman, and new 52 Superman? All the same character, just different canons? :)
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:2, Insightful)
Read the Bible. The (Christian/Jewish) GOD is an inhuman, moronic, cruel, paedophilic bastard. They did perfectly fine cutting that out and still holding on to their religion, just as modern Muslims are capable of cutting out those dirty bits and only focusing on the aspects that fit with their modern culture.
Re:Problem here is "racism" (Score:3, Insightful)
And why, oh why am I even bothering to respond to atheist dogmatism with a reasoned response? It never achieves anything.
That is REALLY amusing.
The rest of the reasoning in your post would mean that Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, etc all refer to different Gods. There's something "incompatible" between them all.
In fact, I'm quite sure that WITHIN THE SAME RELIGION there's parts of a given Bible/etc that are different and incompatible. So, The God of the old testament is apparently not the same god as in the new... so by your own definition you're probably polytheistic worshipping about 20 different Gods.
So, while outsiders see these three major religions as derivative and worshipping basically derivatives of the same God... your rationale is basically THE direct cause of religious conflict and the absolute worst parts of religion's impact upon the world.
I wouldn't be so proud of that.