(Cairo) Bible-burning Egyptian cleric jailed for 11 years

[The Straight Story]

Bible-burning Egyptian cleric jailed for 11 years

CAIRO (Reuters) - A Cairo court sentenced an Egyptian Muslim preacher to 11 years in jail for blasphemy on Sunday for burning a Bible during a protest last year outside the U.S. embassy.

Convictions for insulting Islam are common in Egypt, ruled by Islamists after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but more rare for cases involving the minority Christian faith.

Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud, known as Abu Islam, who runs his own religious television channel, led a demonstration in September against a U.S.-made anti-Islam video posted on the Internet.

His son was sentenced to eight years in jail for the same offence. Both will remain at liberty pending appeal.

http://news.yahoo.com/bible-burning-egyptian-cleric-jailed-11-years-165936742.html

[NaturalHigh]

1. While I think that what he did was disgusting...

I don't think he should be jailed for it. Blasphemy is up to God to punish, not the state. Just my opinion.

I feel the same way about burning the Koran, but that seems to get people more agitated than someone burning a Bible.

[The Straight Story]

2. Yeah, pretty harsh (and his son was given 8 years)

Folks seem to get upset about burning paper with words on it for some reason. Especially when the paper contains words they like.