The Associated Press reports on an interview with Iranian Ambassador to Iraq, Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi, on the fate of U.S. hikers Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal who have been held in Iran since July 31, 2009. In the AP report, the ambassador states that there has been no “deal” for a release of the U.S. hikers, after the recent release of two Iranians from Iraqi custody, and that the fate of the U.S. hikers is in the hands of the “Iranian judiciary.”
— AP reports: “Iranian ambassador: No deal on US hikers”
— AP states “The Iranian ambassador in Baghdad said the recent release of two Iranians from Iraqi custody is not an indication of any impending deal to free three Americans held by Tehran on spying charges.”
— “Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told The Associated Press the fate of the Americans, who have been held since July, is in the hands of the Iranian judiciary and has no connection to the release of two Iranians earlier this month.”
— “‘There were no deals,’ Qomi said. ‘They (Americans) are in the custody of the judiciary system.'”
In the Muslim-majority nation of Maldives, a man stunned an audience during questions and answers period in a lecture given by an Islamic cleric, by stating that he had chosen freedom of conscience not to follow Islam. The man, Mohamed Nazim, was promptly attacked, taken into custody, and has been threatened with death and beheading, or other punishments for choosing his freedom of conscience. Maldives media are reporting that it is the first time in many hundreds of years that a Maldivian has publicly renounced Islam, since Sultan King Hassan IX converted to Christianity in 1552 and was deposed.
The Haveeru newspaper reported that Mohamed Nazim came up to ask a question of Islamic cleric Zakir Naik, stating “Dr Zakir Naik. I am a Maldivian. I am still struggling to believe in religion. That is why I just came to the front of this row. I was born a Maldivian. My parents taught me the religion of Islam. They are good practitioners, actually. I read a lot of books. I have read the translation of Quran. Yet, I still do not believe in a religion. So what do you say, [about] my verdict in Islam?”
Mohamed Nazim (left/standing), who declared his atheist status to the public, questions Dr Zakir Naik during the Q&A session. (Photo: Maldives Haveeru Newspaper)
The Haveeru newspaper reported that Zakir Naik responded by stating: “according to Prophetic traditions, every child is born as a Muslim and that a Muslim is one who submits his/her will to God. In Islam, death penalty should not necessarily be evoked on every person who leaves Islam, but to those who propagate the non-Islamic faith and speak against Islam, he added.”
The Haveeru newspaper report states that his question “sparked comments of hatred from an angry crowd of around 11,000 with many calling to kill him and attack him, while Naik was answering the question. Several people rushed towards Nazim, who was sitting at a back row after moving away from the microphone, as an official of the Islamic Ministry tried to escort him out. Police, however, came between Nazim and the crowd and escorted him into custody.” The Haveeru newspaper report also stated that a crowed gathered outside the police station and demanded that Mohamed Nazim be handed over to the crowd. The Haveeru newspaper report stated that “They shouted anti-atheism slogans and called for Nazim’s beheading.”
Another report by the Haveeru newspaper stated how Maldives lawyers felt that Mohamed Nazim deserved such counseling before receiving the death penalty or other punishments, stating that: “While some local lawyers claim Nazim is eligible for punishment both by Maldives laws and Islamic Shari’a, others argue only Shari’a could be evoked on him. Mohamed Ibrahim Waheed, a defense lawyer said Nazim must first be counseled giving him the chance to repent before considering capital punishment. ‘First, he should be counseled. If he does not take the advice and repent, the penalty stated in Shari’a should be evoked on him. According to Shari’a, the punishment for apostasy is death,’ he said. Waheed further argued that Nazim could be charged under the Religious Unity Act, for disrupting the religious unity of the country. A state prosecutor who wished to remain anonymous said Nazim could be prosecuted for legal disobedience.”
The Maldives newspaper Minivan News reports that a Maldives Islamic group is calling for the death of Mohamed Nazim. Minivan News reports that “The Islamic Foundation has called for self-declared apostate Mohamed Nazim to be stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to death if he does not repent and return to Islam…Today the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives issued a press statement calling on judges to give Nazim the opportunity to repent ‘and if he does not, then sentence him to death as Islamic law and Maldivian law agree.’ ”The Islamic Foundation believes that the person who announces apostasy should be punished according to Islamic laws,’ the NGO said, warning that Nazim represented ‘a disturbance to the religious views and the religious bonds that exist with Maldivians.’ ‘Hereby if this man does not do his penance and come back to the Islamic religion, the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives calls to take the citizenship away from this man as mentioned in the Maldivian constitution.’ If case crossed into areas not covered by the laws of the country, ‘then the judges should rely on Islamic law,’ the NGO stated, as per article 142 of constitution which says judiciary shall look into Islamic shar’ia on matters not covered in law, and sentence accordingly.” Malaysian Miadhu news also reported on such calls for the death of Mohamed Nazim in their story “Islamic Foundation calls on death sentence for Nazim, if not repented “
According to the constitution of Maldives, “The judges are independent, and subject only to the constitution and the law. When deciding matters on which the Constitution or the law is silent, judges must consider Islamic Shari’ah.”
The speaker at the Maldives event that Mohamed Nazim attended, Zakir Naik, has a long history of calling for violence against those who choose their universal human right of freedom of conscience and leave Islam. Religious extremist Zakir Naik has repeatedly called for denying human beings their universal human rights of freedom of conscience, calling those who leave Islam as “traitors.” The London Times has quoted Zakir Naik as stating that “People who change their religion should face the death penalty.”
In a widely broadcast video, Zakir Naik has called for the death penalty for those who leave Islam and promote another religion as “apostates.” In the broadcast, Zakir Naik states “if a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his/her new religion, then it is as good as treason. There is a ‘death penalty’ in Islam for such a person. In many countries, the punishment for treason is also death. If an army general discloses his army’s secrets to another country, then there is a ‘death penalty’ or life imprisonment for such a person according to the laws of most of the countries. In the broadcast, Zakir Naik also states that the death penalty for leaving Islam (“apostasy”) should also apply to “non-Muslim countries.” Zakir Naik also challenges other “Islamic scholars” who believe in such death penalty for “apostates” to extend such defiance of religious freedom not just to Muslim majority nations, but to the entire world. Zakir Naik states “If these scholars are really righteous people then they must welcome their own principle (of death for apostates) in the non-Muslim countries as well.”
Article 18 of the UDHR reads: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
We defend our universal human rights for all people, including the right of freedom of religion, freedom of worship. We urge all to Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
In Pakistan’s Lahore, terrorist attacks on two minority Muslim mosques have reportedly left 98 killed. The attacks are suspected to be the actions of the religious extremist Taliban organization, which used a combination of grenades, guns, and suicide bomb vests to attack worshipers during Friday Muslim prayers at two mosques by the minority Ahmadi Muslim sect, which represent 4 million Pakistani Muslims. The attacks took place at the in Garhi Shahu and Model Town mosques, while thousands were attending worship services. Dawn reported that at the Garhi Shahu mosque, terrorists exploded two suicide vests inside the entrance, injuring nearly 100 worshipers. Multiple reports stated that the terrorists also took Muslim worshipers hostage during the attacks on the two mosques. GEO Pakistan reported that the terrorist attacks took place while people where praying. The Ahmadi Muslims have received threats over the past year, but this did not deter them from exercising their universal human right of freedom of religion and freedom of worship. The Punjab province, where Lahore is the capital, is also a haven for many of the Taliban organizations. The Pakistan Interior Minister indicated today that the Pakistan Taliban and similar organizations were being suspected for the mosque attacks in Lahore on May 28, 2010.
The Ahmadi minority Muslims face discrimination throughout Pakistan according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which states that they face “the most severe legal restrictions and officially-sanctioned discrimination” (2009 USCIRF Report page 6). In 1974, the Pakistan government declared that the Ahmadi minority Muslims were “non-Muslims,” and in 1984, the Ahmadi Muslims were banned from proselytizing and identifying themselves as Muslims.
— DNA reports: “Over 50 Pakistani Hindus have converted to Islam in the Sialkot district of Punjab within a week (between May 14 and May 19) under pressure from their Muslim employers in a bid to retain their jobs and survive in the Muslim-dominated society.”
— “As many as 35 Hindus converted to Islam on May 14, another 14 on May 17 and eight on May 19, 2010.”
— “All the 57 Hindus who have converted belong to the Pasroor town of Sialkot.”
Pakistan: Anti-Christian banners alarm Lahore Church
— UCAN: “The Khatm-e-Nabuwat Conference, an international Islamic organization, has put up banners saying ‘Jews, Christians and Marzai (Ahmadis) are enemies of Islam,’ along several roads in the city.”
In the ongoing investigation of the NYC Times Square Car Bomb Plot, CNN reported on May 17, 2010 that emails reportedly written by terror suspect Faisal Shahzad as a “frustrated Muslim.”
An aspect of Faisal Shahzad’s emails not addressed by CNN is his rejection of democracy and calls for an extremist caliphate.
As shown in the Adobe Acrobat file of reported emails by Faisal Shahzad, he wrote that : “Why do you have to follow Democracy (Human made Laws) if you’re already given Laws revealed from Allah, Quran, and Sunnah. Khilafath is what we Muslim ruled the world with, weren’t we successful in world then?”
Faisal Shahzad (Photo: Online Social Networking site Orkut.com)
We remain concerned that those that seek to defy democracy are actually seeking the destruction of our unqualified, universal human rights. Terrorist suspect Faisal Shahzad’s attacks on democracy and call for a Caliphate have been echoed in public forums by the Hizb ut-Tahrir America organization in July 2009 in Oak Lawn Illinois. Such individuals and groups that we have called “extremists” are unquestionably against democracy, against our unqualified universal human rights, and seek the recreation of a global Islamic caliphate.
Those of us Responsible for Equality And Liberty stand to defy those who seek the destruction of our universal human rights, and who reject our unity in pluralism that respects all religions, races, genders, and ethnicity.
Media and human rights blogs are reporting on the case of Kiana Firouz, an Iran lesbian actress seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. Ms. Firouz was recently an actress in the film “Cul de Sac,” which largely addresses her life as a lesbian in Iran. She has been denied asylum in the United Kingdom, and friends and human rights activists fear the consequences should she be returned to Iran. In Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death.
The London Times reports: “Unfortunately for Kiana Firouz the film is not make-believe. It is based on her life. The Home Office has denied her asylum and she now faces the prospect of deportation to Iran followed by flogging, execution or both. ‘Definitely she will be killed,’ says Ramin Goudarzi Nejad, the London-based director of Cul-de-Sac. ‘She would be arrested … She would be tortured. She could face execution not for being a lesbian but for embarrassing the regime,’ said Paul Canning, editor of the website LGBT Asylum News.”
On May 19, 2010, the news media reported on four members of the Christian militia Hutaree that were released from prison. The four were: Kristopher Sickles, Tina Stone, her stepson, David Stone Jr., and Jacob Ward. They were released, according to the Detroit Free Press, “after prosecutors backed off their demand that the suspects remained locked up until trial on sedition charges.”
3 Hutaree released from jail
— Detroit Free Press: “U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts agreed to release Tina Stone 44, of Clayton; her stepson, David Stone Jr., 19, of Adrian, and Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio.”
