Muslim Hate of
Atheists
Nigerian atheist jailed for blasphemy over Facebook posts
Mubarak Bala, a former Muslim, has been accused of attempting to ’cause a breach of the public peace’.
Aljazeera
4-5-22
ABC News
A
Nigerian court has sentenced an atheist to 24 years in prison for
making social media posts it found to be blasphemous against Islam in
the West African nation’s northern region.
Mubarak
Bala, a former Muslim, was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty
to charges of blasphemy after a lengthy trial during which he spent
nearly two years in prison.
Bala
is the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria and activists
have said his conviction illustrates the risks of being openly
faithless in northern Nigeria, which is predominantly Muslim.
Prosecutors
in northern Kano state accused Bala of making Facebook posts that
insulted the Prophet Muhammad and the religion of Islam, and attempted
to “cause a breach of the public peace”, according to court documents.
Bala
long maintained his innocence of the charges of blasphemy but he
changed his plea to guilty only after “enormous pressure for the past
few years”, said Leo Igwe, founder of the Nigerian Humanist Association.
‘Judge is compromised’
Bala
was tried in a secular court but could have risked a death sentence in
Nigeria’s Islamic courts that operate in other parts of the country’s
north.
“He thinks the judge is compromised … and that he would rather just have closure,” Bala’s lawyer James Ibori said.
Bala’s
prolonged stay in prison and eventual conviction caused anger among
some Nigerians and activists who accused authorities of a flawed
prosecution process. He should not have been charged under Kano state
law, Ibori said, because “he was not in Kano when the offence was
allegedly committed”.
While
in prison, Bala had been denied access to healthcare, kept in solitary
confinement, and forced “to worship the Islamic way”, said Ibori.
The Kano state government denied any wrongdoing in the trial and said the judgement could be appealed.
With
Bala’s conviction, humanists and nonbelievers in Nigeria are “now
potential criminals … who can easily be thrown into jail just for
expressing their views”, said Igwe.
“Humanists have become endangered citizens of Nigeria.”
Atheism And Virus Of Taqiyyah In Muslim
Communities
By Leo Igwe
Modern Ghana
6-15-20
Since the
arrest and detention of Mubarak Bala, the atheist
community in Nigeria has been afflicted by a more virulent form of Taqiyyah. Some Muslim individuals, who are seeking to
fulfill imagined protective duties, have reached out to atheist and humanist
organizations.
These questers
for this-worldly and otherworldly gains, desirers of Ummah capital, and
transcendental mileage have been the prowl. Even before the arrest of Bala, Taqiyyah Muslims were
there. Taqqiyyah lurked in the underground atheist
movement and is linked to Bala's arrest, the outing
of atheists, and a clampdown on freethinkers in the region. In the post-Bala-arrest dispensation, Taqqiyah
is taking a more insidious and desperate dimension as Muslim zealots seek to
consummate their jihadist intent.
From the
Arabic word, waqa which means to shield oneself, Taqiyyah is a practice in Islam of concealing one's
religious dispositions due to threats of murder and persecution. It is deployed
as a protective gear for Muslim individuals or communities especially
minorities living in majority sections. In the context of the atheist movement,
Taqiyyah Muslims are double-faced Muslims who deceive
and lie about their identity and intent.
They have a
real face, which represents their authentic Muslim identity. And the other face
which they assume to commit mischief. Amphibian in nature, Taqiyyah
Muslims display abilities to blow hot and cold at different times, and claim to
hold religiously contradictory positions. They approbate and reprobate for the
sake of Allah and Islam. Taqiyyah Muslims present
themselves as atheists while concealing their Muslimness. They pretend to be ex
Muslims or non-Muslims. They infiltrate atheist networks mainly to gather
information for their Muslim sponsors and interest groups. These special forces
of Mujahideen spy for the Islamic establishment where their genuine loyalty
lies. They are the secret service agents of the Ummah. Taqiyyah
Muslims indulge in religious espionage. They strive to fulfill a sacred
obligation that is confessionally meant to earn them
Allah's reward in the hereafter. Simply put, Taqiyyah
is a religious duty. Atheists in Muslim dominated communities are in danger not
really because Allah exists and has the power to harm or punish them in any
way. Atheists are endangered mainly due to the treacherous exploits of Taqiyyah Muslims.
Some Taqiyyah Muslims are members of various atheists,
humanists, and freethought groups. In most cases, they are dormant, and seldom
participate in physical meetings. These Muslims joined in lodging a petition
against Bala and in supplying information to those
who brought the petition. Recently some persons outed a former Taqiyyah Muslim, who is gay to highlight his hypocrisy.
This Taqiyyah gay Muslim used fake and multiple
Facebook identities to infiltrate atheist networks and gathered information
about atheists and atheism in the region.
It is these Taqiyyah Muslims who compiled the so-called list of
atheists that the petitioners said they would use to "pick up" other
atheists who would be prosecuted along with Mr. Bala.
Since the
arrest of Bala, two persons have been exposed as Taqiyyah Muslims who are trying to out and implicate
atheists. They used multiple Facebook accounts to disguise and hide their real
identities. They used these accounts to contact atheists pretending to be in
danger. These fake ex-Muslims asked for support or asked to join the humanist
organizations. They set up accounts and used them to send known atheists friend
requests on Facebook.
In these two
cases, local contacts cross-checked and discovered that they were spies working
for the petitioner-Muslims. One of them, MH contacted some humanists stating
that the sharia police, Hishba, detained him for
denouncing Islam. He wanted to join an atheist organization. After some
background checks, local sources advised that MH was "a scam and belonged
to the group looking for ex-Muslims to be arrested".
In another
fraudulent move to infiltrate the atheist network, MH opened a second Facebook
account with the name Bala Fred Mubarak. After some
investigations, it was discovered that MH was using this Bala-like
identity to confused and entrap atheists. In a related development. local and
international atheist leaders have also been approached by another Taqiyyah Muslim, GM. Like MH, GM claimed to be ex-Muslim
seeking help and support from atheists. Some people sent the contact details to
an atheist in the area. After making some inquiries, an atheist source in the
region stated: "He is a confirmed spy for those guys who are threatening
and intimidating atheists. No doubt about it".
It is interesting
to see how those claiming to be angry over Bala's
Facebook posts and are campaigning to have him jailed or killed are using the
same Facebook to perpetrate fraud and mischief.
Saudi
Arabia sentences a man to 10 years in jail and 2,000 lashes for tweeting that
he was an atheist
The hardline Islamic state has a law defining atheist beliefs as 'terrorism'
BY
FELIX ALLEN
31st
August 2016
The
Sun
A
COURT in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to ten years in prison and 2,000
lashes for expressing his atheism on Twitter.
The 28-year-old reportedly refused to repent, insisting what he wrote reflected
his beliefs and that he had the right to express them.
The
hardline Islamic state’s religious police in charge of monitoring social
networks found more than 600 tweets denying the existence of God, ridiculing
Koranic verses, accusing all prophets of lies and saying their teaching fuelled hostilities.
The
court also fined him around £4,000.
He
was sentenced under a controversial law that defines atheism as
“terrorism”.
In
2014 the late King Abdullah issued a string of royal decrees aimed at clamping
down on all forms of political dissent and protests that could “harm
public order”.
Article
one of the new provisions defined terrorism as “calling for atheist
thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic
religion on which this country is based”.
Joe
Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said
at the time the new measures were introduced: “Saudi authorities have
never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and
regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into
crimes of terrorism.”
Bangladeshi al Qaeda wing declares war on atheists
By Ivan Watson, CNN
April
9, 2016
(CNN)Bangladeshi officials are investigating a claim of responsibility by al
Qaeda's wing in South Asia for the machete murder of a secular blogger in
Dhaka.
"We are seriously looking into it," said Anisul
Huq, Bangladesh's minister for law.
"Unless we are totally sure that this claim ... is authentic, I don't
think we will be commenting on it."
According to the jihadist monitoring group SITE, Al Qaeda in the Indian
Subcontinent (AQIS) claims that the movement's Bangladesh branch "carried
out an operation to slaughter" Nazimuddin Samad
in the nation's capital.
Bangladesh police say the 26-year-old writer and graduate student was ambushed
by attackers Wednesday night. The attackers slashed Samad with machetes and
shot him before escaping the scene on a motorcycle.
Police tell CNN they have yet to make any arrests in the wake of the murder.
In its statement, al Qaeda accused Samad of being an "enemy of
Allah." It lists three of Samad's posts on Facebook going back to 2013 as
examples of his insults against Islam.
The group effectively declares war against atheist writers who dare to
challenge al Qaeda's strict interpretation of Islam.
It also threatens to target judges, lawyers, engineers and doctors "who
don't allow others to follow the rulings of the Islamic Shariah."
Samad is the sixth writer or publisher of atheist material to have been
murdered in Dhaka in the past 14 months.
Is there a way to protect Bangladeshi writers?
Bangladeshi authorities have previously denied that foreign groups such as al
Qaeda or ISIS have taken root in the majority Muslim country.
Instead, it says the murders of secular writers in the capital, as well as a
series of deadly attacks against Hindu, Christian and Shi'ite minority groups
across the country, are the work of homegrown extremists.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan echoed those
sentiments on Saturday. He said the issue is not freedom of expression but
tolerance of other religions.
"The bloggers, they should control their writing," he told CNN.
"Our country is a secular state... I want to say that people should be
careful not to hurt anyone by writing anything -- hurt any religion, any
people's beliefs, any religious leaders."
The 'sin' that could get you killed in Bangladesh
The Bangladeshi government has vowed to bring killers to justice.
Law Minister Huq pointed to the December 2015 death sentence handed down to two
men convicted of killing blogger Ahmed Rajib in 2013.
Asked if the government would adopt new measures to protect Bangladesh's
embattled community of atheists, Huq said security forces had "intensified
protective mechanisms."
Several top government officials insist security forces will provide protection
to writers who feel their lives are at risk.
Atheists flee Bangladesh
But members of the besieged "free-thinker" intellectual community in
Bangladesh say they do not trust the police, because in recent years
authorities prosecuted several writers for "insulting religion" in
their published work.
"I have not gone to the police because police actually tried to arrest me
in 2013," said one atheist blogger in Bangladesh.
He asked not to be identified, due to the fact that he is on a hit list of 84
atheist writers published by a jihadi group more than a year ago. The blogger
is part of a network that has helped at least a dozen colleagues flee
Bangladesh.
"This community is shattered," the writer said.
To avoid being murdered, the blogger said he stopped posting comments online,
changed his phone number and place of residence and regularly changed his route
to and from work.
He said he felt like it was a de facto crime to admit to being an atheist in
this majority Muslim country.
"I'm definitely living in fear," the writer said.
In 2015, the freedom of press watchdog organization Committee to Protect
Journalists listed Bangladesh as 12th in the world on its Global Impunity Index
highlighting countries "where journalists are slain and the killers go
free."
Yet another Bangladeshi blogger hacked to death
By Saeed Ahmed, CNN
Wed
May 13, 2015
(CNN)Attacks on bloggers critical of Islam have taken on a disturbing
regularity in Bangladesh, with yet another writer hacked to death Tuesday.
Ananta Bijoy Das, 32, was killed Tuesday morning as he left his home on his way
to work at a bank, police in the northeastern Bangladeshi city of Sylhet said.
Four masked men attacked him, hacking him to death with cleavers and machetes,
said Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Kamrul Ahsan.
The men then ran away. Because of the time of the morning when the attack
happened, there were few witnesses. But police say they are following up on
interviewing the few people who saw the incident.
"It's one after another after another," said Imran Sarker, who heads the Blogger and Online Activists Network
in Bangladesh. "It's the same scenario again and again. It's very
troubling."
Public killings
Das' death was at least the third this year of
someone who'd posted pieces online critical of Islam. In each case, the attacks
were carried out publicly on city streets.
In March, Washiqur Rahman, 27, was hacked to death by
two men with knives and meat cleavers just outside his house as he headed to
work at a travel agency in the capital, Dhaka.
In February, a Bangladesh-born American blogger, Avijit
Roy, was similarly killed with machetes and knives as he walked back from a
book fair in Dhaka.
The three victims are hardly the only ones who have paid a steep price for
their views.
In the last two years, several bloggers have died, either murdered or under
mysterious circumstances.
In 2014, Reporters Without Borders reported that a group calling itself
Defenders of Islam in Bangladesh had published a "hit list" of
writers it saw as opposing Islam.
"They listed 84 bloggers, mostly secularists. They listed 84 of
them," said blogger Asif Mohiuddin, whose name was on the list. "Nine
of them are already killed and many of the were attacked."
Championing science
Das was an atheist who contributed to Mukto Mona
("Free Thinkers"), the blog that Roy founded.
Mukto Mona contains sections titled
"Science" and "Rationalism," and most of the articles hold
science up to religion as a litmus test, which it invariably fails.
While Das was critical of fundamentalism, in Islam and other religions, and of
the attacks on secular thinkers, he was mostly concerned with championing
science.
He was the editor of a local science magazine, Jukti
("Reason"), and wrote several books, including one work on Charles
Darwin.
In 2006, the blog awarded Das its Rationalist Award for his "deep and
courageous interest in spreading secular & humanist ideals and messages in
a place which is not only remote, but doesn't have even a handful of
rationalists."
"He was a voice of social resistance; he was an activist," said Sarker. "And now, he too has been silenced."
Taking to the streets
Soon after Das' death, his Facebook wall was flooded
with messages of shock and condolence. And hundreds of protesters took to the
streets in Sylhet demanding that the government bring his killers to justice.
"We've heard from Ananta's friends that some people threatened to kill him
as he was critical of religion," Das'
brother-in-law Somor Bijoy Shee
Shekhor said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
"We are ashamed, brother Bijoy," someone posted on Das' Facebook page.
"Is a human life worth so little? Do we not have the right to live without
fear?" wrote another.
Police are investigating all three recent deaths, but few believe the real
culprits will be brought to justice.
"One of the reasons it's come to this stage because a) they know they can
get away with it. Anyone can get away with anything at this point," said
Shahidul Alam, another blogger. "There is no
such thing as the rule of law. And despite these attacks, the government has
taken no serious attempt to bring perpetrators to justice or investigate what's
happened."
Bangladesh has an ever-dwindling number of outspoken voices. Deaths like Das' only helps to silence the remaining few.
Journalist Farid Ahmed contributed to this report from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Death to bloggers: Bangladesh Islamists
Shafiq Alam
AAP
April 07, 2013
HUNDREDS of thousands of Islamists rallied in Dhaka after an overnight
"long march" to the Bangladeshi capital, demanding the execution of
atheist bloggers for defaming Islam.
It is the latest protest to rack Bangladesh, deepening tensions between
secularists and the largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami,
whose leaders are under trial for crimes committed during the country's 1971
war of independence.
The Islamists converged on Dhaka's main commercial hub to protest against what
they say are blasphemous writings by atheist bloggers, defying a pro-government
national strike by secular protesters - who staged a smaller rival protest in
Dhaka Saturday - aimed at resisting the march.
Police said about 100,000 people attended the rally during which protesters
chanted "God is great, hang the atheist bloggers".
Protest organisers, who called the rally the
"long march" with many travelling from remote villages, put the
number at more than half a million, as Dhaka's Motijheel
commercial area turned into a sea of white robes.
"I've come here to fight for Islam. We won't allow any bloggers to
blaspheme our religion and our beloved Prophet Mohammed," said Shahidul
Islam, an imam at a mosque outside Dhaka who walked 20km.
Hefajat-e-Islam, an Islamic group which draws support
from tens of thousands of seminaries, organised the
rally in support of its 13-point demand including enactment of a blasphemy law
to prosecute and hang atheist bloggers.
There has been vociferous debate between staunch atheists and fundamentalists
in Bangladesh's social media for years, but it took a deadly turn in February
when an anti-Islam blogger was murdered.
This week four online writers were arrested on charges of hurting religious
sentiment through their Internet writings against Islam.
Following recent protests over the on-going war crimes tribunal the government
has blocked about a dozen websites and blogs to stem the unrest.
It has also set up a panel, which includes intelligence chiefs, to monitor
blasphemy on social media.
Under the country's cyber laws, a blogger or Internet writer can face up to 10
years in jail for defaming a religion.
Dhaka has been virtually cut off from the rest of the country since Friday
afternoon - when secularists called a 22-hour nationwide strike to obstruct the
march - as private transport operators stopped services fearing clashes between
Islamists and secular protesters.