In The Middle East Sharing Atheism on Social Media Ends Badly

[rug]

Posted: 01/20/2015 10:00 am EST
Updated: 5 hours ago
Dieter Holger

Best to keep your non-believing status messages to yourself -- if you are an Egyptian citizen that is. Karim Ashraf Mohammed Al-Banna has been sentenced to prison for sharing his atheist identity on Facebook.

After his name appeared on a list of atheists Al-Banna approached police from the northern Egyptian city Idku to file a harassment complaint. Al-Banna informed the police he was being harassed because he was an atheist. After all the Egyptian constitution "ostensibly guarantees freedom of belief," according to Human Rights Watch.

Instead of protecting the 21-year-old college student the authorities decided to arrest him.

In Egypt "freedom of belief" is protected only to a degree. If you criticize Islam you can be prosecuted under religious contempt. Religious contempt is a very broad term, but essentially anything seen as blasphemous to Islamic teachings can be considered grounds for religious contempt. Espousing atheism on Facebook apparently counts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dieter-holger/being-an-atheist-on-socia_b_6490866.html

[cbayer]

1. But Egypt is on the verge of an Islamic revolution and will take down

the extremists! President Al-Sisi himself said so.

[edhopper]

2. So much for

the Muslim Enlightenment.

[cbayer]

3. It's all smoke and mirrors, isn't it. It sounded good when he said it, but

there is nothing but bad news coming out of Egypt when it comes to atheism.

[edhopper]

5. I really don't know

what Muslim country could really lead even a small enlightenment.
They all seem F'ed up.
But they, and the world needs it.

[cbayer]

7. I had hopes for Turkey, but things aren't going well there either.

[edhopper]

8. At least

from the sound of the PM. But I'm not sure how the population feels. I would think most would rather stick with Europe than the countries to the south.

[cbayer]

9. I think that most of the people would support joining the EU,

and it actually looks like they maybe could have gotten that.

But then the government took this hard right turn and that is completely out of the question now.

[leveymg]

4. This Arab Spring regime change thing really worked out well, don't you think, Hillary?

Thanks for all you've done to advance freedom and peace in the Middle East.

[edhopper]

6. I here the Who

meet the new Boss, same as......

[leveymg]

10. Horton hears The Who, too

[msongs]

11. the religion of peace strikes again nt