That title is a mouthful. Sorry.
So, I last posted about Walid Bahomane being sentenced to jail for posting pictures of the king of Morocco on the internet. Bad stuff. But now I'd like to talk about that Saudi writer, Hamza Kashgari, who tweeted defamatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
The reaction to his tweets was explosive. He tweeted about how he "wouldn't pray for" Muhammad and how he "doesn't like the halo of divinity" around him. Kashgari prompted some serious outrage for his tweets, so much so that there are thousands of people calling for his death. Kashgari was so afraid for his life that he boarded a plane and headed to Malaysia....where he was immediately detained by the Malaysian police.
Yes, this guy's tweets were EXTREMELY offensive to the Muslim community. I understand that. That tends to happen whenever someone does bring up religion. But his three or four tweets brought in a response of 30,000 tweets, and a Facebook group called "The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari." 11,000 people have already joined it. That's a serious reaction. Everyone wants him dead. Kashgari deleted the tweets and issued an apology, but it wasn't enough. He literally fled the country to go to Malaysia where he as arrested, and currently the Saudi and Malaysian governments are issuing an exchange of custody.
In this case, I'm guessing that Kashgari wishes that internet censorship was in effect here. He probably went in and thought "only people who FOLLOW me will see these tweets. it's not hurting anybody."
Wrong.
He offended thousands of people who are now calling for his head. During a layover when he had to switch planes he was arrested. And now Kashgari is sitting in a jail cell, not knowing whether or not he'll be getting the death penalty.
Saudi Arabia has censors placed on the internet, filtering in appropriate content and hiding offensive material. They have censorship officials in charge of newspapers and magazines. And if anyone says anything that could be deemed offensive towards the king in anyway they face jail time. In this case, Saudi Arabia is on a ledge. They want the technology of today, they want to be in the modern era. But with technology comes a freedom that can't be controlled, and the Saudi government likes to put a muzzle on its people. They can't have social media connecting everyone and then expect people to filter their thoughts or die. It doesn't work that way.
Hamza Kashgari will most likely stay in prison for the rest of his life, unless he's beheaded first. Saudi Arabia needs to either get rid of its censorship and let worse come to worst. Or they can stop trying to advance their country and instead focus on silencing the people. Whatever works.
This is Leslie, signing off again!
@see_you_sLATER
feel free to comment or whatever!
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Hi, Leslie:
ReplyDeleteGreat post! The plight of this 23 year old shows how important freedom of speech is. Imagine what would happen if Twitter in the U.S. had such stringent censors, searching out any comments that would offend Christianity. Half of the population would be beheaded. Thanks for following this shocking and tragic story.
Rob King
Hi Rob,
DeleteThanks so much for your comment! You're right; if the U.S. did have such stringent censors on Twitter and other social media then half of our population would be beheaded. It's hard to have an opinion and voice it when everyone around is walking on eggshells and trying not to offend one another.
Leslie