January 17, 2008
Good News: Journalist Could Get Death Penalty for Blasphemy in "Liberated" Afghanistan
I've never been that optimistic about Afghanistan's prospects of becoming civilized. Too many Muslims committed to Islam. I'm much more optimistic about Iraq, where people tend to take Islam a wee less seriously. What a difference a year can make, eh?
At best I hope for a stable country that will kill our enemies for us so we don't have to. And that won't harbor al Qaeda or other jihadi groups. And maybe cuts poppy production by a percent or two. Is that too much to ask?
But still, it is rather disheartening to think that the best we could leave in our wake is a government which is actually contemplating listening to calls from the mullahs that a student journalist be given the death penalty on charges of blasphemy and defaming Islam. Yes, they actually want to kill Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh for "mocking Islam and the Quran" and for writing a story which suggested *shock* that Muhammed wasn't the most pro-woman prophet in history.
Imagine that, someone suggesting that Mohammed wasn't a feminist icon.
Blasphemy!!
I guess it's progress, measured in some ways. Seven years ago the story wouldn't have been about how some in Afghanistan want Kambakhsh dead. Or that Kambaksh is awaiting trial for blasphemy. The story would be about how the Taliban took him to the local soccer field for execution.
So, look on the bright side of things. Under the new moderate Islamic regime blasphemers only get jail time, and not the death penalty. Mostly.
Say, how is that different than Iran? Oh, yeah, at least they're our SOBs.
Related: If the Afghanis decide to follow the dictates of Islamic law, which proscribes the death penalty for blasphemy, and behead Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, what will the British Ministry of Truth call it?
My head hurts.
