Religious Persecution

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over public threats made against journalist and National Assembly member Sherry Rehman. The government has stepped up protection for Rehman after she supported a bill in the National Assembly that would amend Pakistan's blasphemy law. The changes include the repeal of the law's mandatory death penalty. "Sherry Rehman's life straddles...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has warned that the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, governor of the Punjab province in Pakistan, may open the door to a new wave of political intolerance and pressure on journalists across the country. "Salman Taseer was a friend of democracy and media freedom," said Aidan White, General Secretary of the IFJ. "His death is a brutal reminder that...

Molly Norris, a political cartoonist for Seattle Weekly, went into hiding in September because of threats made after her tongue-in-cheek call for an "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day," according to Seattle Weekly. The call was included in a cartoon Norris drew to protest a decision by the cable television network Comedy Central not to broadcast an episode of "South Park" that tested the Islamic taboo...

Malaysian authorities have arrested cartoonist Zulkifli Awar Ulhaque, also known as Zunar, a contributor to the popular news site Malaysiakini and author of a new collection of political cartoons, New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Police raided Zunar's Kuala Lumpur office and arrested him under the Sedition Act on Friday, just before the scheduled release of his...

Nearly five years after publication of the Mohammed cartoons, the threat of reprisals against the newspaper that carried them remains significant enough that it has constructed a security fence around its buildings, the Copenhagen Post has reported. The Viby, Jutland-based Jyllands-Posten took the advice of domestic intelligence agency PET and encircled its offices with a kilometer long metal...

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has pardoned former journalist Ahmed Ghous Zalmai, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in September 2008 for publishing a translation of the Koran into Dari (the Persian dialect spoken in Afghanistan), according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Issued a few days ahead of the Persian New Year festival of Nawruz, the pardon also affects Mohammad Ateef Noori...

The Malaysian home affairs ministry has issued to leading English-language daily, The Star, a warning about an article criticising the caning of three Muslim women under Sharia law, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. “As one of the country’s most widely-read newspapers, The Star should have a free hand to provide its readers with the broadest range of news and views on social issues,” Paris...

A new defamation law has been enacted in Ireland that establishes blasphemy as an offence punishable by a fine of up to 25,000 euros. The law took effect on January 1. Article 36 defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering “matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that...

Press freedom organisations have urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to intercede on behalf of former journalist Ahmed Ghous Zalmai and Mullah Qari Mushtaq, who were sentenced Thursday by a Kabul court to 20 years in prison for publishing a Dari translation of the Koran. Dari is the Farsi (Persian) dialect spoken in Afghanistan. "We appeal to the president's spirit of tolerance and ask him to...

The Swedish cartoonist who depicted Islam's prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog has gone into hiding following a death threat from Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Lars Vilks, who was whisked away by the police when he returned to Sweden from Germany on Sunday, said police have described the threats against him as "very serious." The leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, offered $100,000 over the...