West Bank Blogger in Deep Trouble

[Interloper]

By day, a mild mannered Muslim barber; by night, an apostatic blogger:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101111/ap_ ... ok_atheist

Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Diaa Hadid, Associated Press –

QALQILIYA, West Bank – A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.

The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.

Residents of Qalqiliya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin — the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar — was leading a double life.

Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly posting anti-religion rants on the Internet during his free time.

Now, he faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence." Many in this conservative Muslim town say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.

"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.

Over several years, Husayin is suspected of posting arguments in favor of atheism on English and Arabic blogs, where he described the God of Islam as having the attributes of a "primitive Bedouin." He called Islam a "blind faith that grows and takes over people's minds where there is irrationality and ignorance."

If that wasn't enough, he is also suspected of creating three Facebook groups in which he sarcastically declared himself God and ordered his followers, among other things, to smoke marijuana in verses that spoof the Muslim holy book, the Quran. At its peak, Husayin's Arabic-language blog had more than 70,000 visitors, overwhelmingly from Arab countries.

His Facebook groups elicited hundreds of angry comments, detailed death threats and the formation of more than a dozen Facebook groups against him, including once called "Fight the blasphemer who said 'I am God.'"

The outburst of anger reflects the feeling in the Muslim world that their faith is under mounting attack by the West. This sensitivity has periodically turned violent, such as the street protests that erupted in 2005 after cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad were published in Denmark or after Pope Benedict XVI suggested the Prophet Muhammad was evil the following year. The pope later retracted his comment.

Husayin is the first to be arrested in the West Bank for his religious views, said Tayseer Tamimi, the former chief Islamic judge in the area.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is among the more religiously liberal Arab governments in the region. It is dominated by secular elites and has frequently cracked down on hardline Muslims and activists connected to its conservative Islamic rival, Hamas.

Husayin's high public profile and prickly style, however, left authorities no choice but to take action.

Husayin used a fake name on his English and Arabic-language blogs and Facebook pages. After his mother discovered articles on atheism on his computer, she canceled his Internet connection in hopes that he would change his mind.

Instead, he began going to an Internet cafe — a move that turned out to be a costly mistake. The owner, Ahmed Abu-Asal, said the blogger aroused suspicion by spending up to seven hours a day in a corner booth. After several months, a cafe worker supplied captured snapshots of his Facebook pages to Palestinian intelligence officials.

Officials monitored him for several weeks and then arrested him on Oct. 31 as he sat in the cafe, said Abu-Asal.

Husayin's family has been devastated by the arrest. On a recent day, his father stood sadly in the family barber shop, cluttered with colorful towels and posters of men in outdated haircuts. He requested that a reporter not write about his son to avoid being publicly shamed.

Two cousins attributed the writings to depression, saying Husayin was desperate to find better work. Requesting anonymity because of the shame the incident, they said Husayin's mother wants him to remain in prison for life — both to restore the family's honor and to protect him from vigilantes.

The case is the second high-profile arrest connected in the West Bank connected to Facebook activity. In late September, a reporter for a news station sympathetic to Hamas was arrested and detained for more than a month after he was tagged in a Facebook image that insulted the Palestinian president.

Gaza's Hamas rulers also stalk Facebook pages of suspected dissenters, said Palestinian rights activist Mustafa Ibrahim. He said Internet cafe owners are forced to monitor customers' online activity, and alert intelligence officials if they see anything critical of the militant group or that violates Hamas' stern interpretation of Islam.

Both governments also create fake Facebook profiles to befriend and monitor known dissidents, activists said. In September, a young Gaza man was detained after publishing an article critical of Hamas on his Facebook feed.

Such "stalking" on Facebook and other social media sites has become increasingly common in the Arab world. In Lebanon, four people were arrested over the summer and accused of slandering President Michel Suleiman on Facebook. All have been released on bail.

In neighboring Syria, Facebook is blocked altogether. And in Egypt, a blogger was charged with atheism in 2007 after intelligence officials monitored his posts.

Husayin has not been charged but remains in detention, said Palestinian security spokesman Adnan Damiri.

He could face a life sentence if he's found guilty, depending on how harshly the judge thinks he attacked Islam and how widely his views were broadcast, said Islamic scholar Tamimi.

Even so, a small minority has questioned whether the government went too far.

Zainab Rashid, a liberal Palestinian commentator, wrote in an online opinion piece that Husayin has made an important point: "that criticizing religious texts for their (intellectual) weakness can only be combatted by ... oppression, prison and execution."

___

Elizabeth Kennedy in Beirut and Jason Keyser in Cairo contributed to this report.

[Sprint]

Mordechai Vanunu is a former Israeli nuclear technician who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986.[1][2] He was subsequently lured to Italy by a Mossad spy, where he was drugged and kidnapped by Israeli intelligence agents.[1] He was transported to Israel and ultimately convicted in a trial that was held behind closed doors. Regarded by peace activists as a hero for taking a stand against weapons proliferation, Vanunu has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize many times.

Vanunu spent 18 years in prison, including more than 11 years in solitary confinement. Released from prison in 2004, he became subject to a broad array of restrictions on his speech and movement. Since then he has been arrested several times for violations of those restrictions, including giving various interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel. He says that he suffered "cruel and barbaric treatment" at the hands of Israeli authorities while imprisoned, and suggests that his treatment would have been different if he were Jewish (Vanunu is a Christian convert from Judaism)

Maybe I'm comparing apples with pears here, but both men were trying to be honest and exercise freedom of expression. Israel is apparently a democracy, so you would think that they would allow freedom of speech, but they do not. I think what both men share is what their respective cultures view as the ultimate betrayal. Without personal experience of the the cultural context, it's hard to see why such draconian punishments are thought necessary. Or to state it in reverse, if you were born into either culture you could easily see why such punishment is necessary, and ultimately that comes down to state control.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

Maybe I'm comparing apples with pears here

Ya think?

There is a huge difference between being imprisoned for espionage and stealing and distributing state secrets, (there are people in prison in the states for the same things) and apostasy.

Being arrested because you declare you don't believe in an imaginary and intangible being who may or may not live in the sky and furthermore declaring that you are not in agreement with a man from 1300 years ago who wrote a book about a relationship with said sky being does not compare in any way shape or form to spying and espionage.

I think that what is being shown here is a face value thing.
Think about it.

[zenshiite]

^Plenty of countries have heresy laws DRR. Many in Europe.

Furthermore, Vanunu was not conducting espionage and he exposed Israel's nuclear program which is in clear violation of international law.

[Steve James]

Since I'm neither Israeli nor Muslim, I can't say I agree with either. But, I only worry about what either would do if "I" would say something. (I.e., if I had some Israeli secret that they didn't want revealed, what do I think would happen? v. if I said negative things about Islam or the Prophet).
Neither of these is unique to Israel or Islam, either. The State (secular or religious) declares what "state secrets" are and which information relates to "national security."

Hmm, whether apples or oranges, I think the latter (Israeli) one is more disturbing, although it is understandable. I.e., I understand why "nations" censor and imprison people for what they say. I may disagree with their reasons, and I may appreciate having the information. Otoh, although I know that different religions have different rules about what people can say about them, I don't understand the reason.

Iow, if the contest is between espionage and apostasy, I think espionage is worse. If this is a generalized "free speech" argument, then both are equally right. If it's between free "political/military" speech and "religious" speech, I'd say that neither of those exist. People who work for governments can't say what they want. People in certain religions can't say what they want.

Anyway, imo, it's possible to disbelieve without being disagreeable or denigrating belief. The Muslim guy should have kept his doubt to himself and gotten out of town, (as have the members of countless disbelievers have done for centuries).

[Darth Rock&Roll]

zenshiite-

No country in Europe and certainly no western liberal democracy will imprison or physically punish anyone for heresy in any way under national law.

Unlike several so called "Islamic" nations which have severe punishments for apostasy and even in Saudi Arabia, they will give you the death penalty for this.

so comparing Vanunu's espionage and revelation of state secrets to someone being arrested and treated poorly because they don't believe in the god of the people who arrested him is way out of line. It's beyond apples and oranges and more in the realm of comparing galaxies to a mouse's anus.

[Sprint]

no western liberal democracy will imprison or physically punish anyone for heresy in any way under national law.

Unlike Israel where apostasy can prevent you from benefiting from the Law of Return, in other words if you were born jewish and converted to catholicism then Israel will not allow you to "return" to live as an Israeli citizen. The definition of who is a jew goes beyond the halakhic definition and veers into Rabbinic Law which is getting pretty close to theocratic law making

Unlike several so called "Islamic" nations which have severe punishments for apostasy and even in Saudi Arabia, they will give you the death penalty for this.
.

Talmudic rabbis used a variety of words and phrases to describe one who abandons Judaism. These terms include mumar, “one who is changed,” poshea Yisrael, “a transgressor of Israel,” and meshummad, “one who was destroyed,” among others. The first reference to a heretic in Judaic texts is in the context of mesit, the agitator, who proclaims, “Let us go and worship the gods of others.”

The biblical punishment for the abdication of Judaism in favor of other worship is the death penalty.

So while Israel is not a theocracy it's a lot closer to it that some might think.

[Chris Fleming]

^^I was wondering how long it would take someone to bring up the Old Testament! Mention modern day Islam or a Muslim country, then that train is never late!!!

[zenshiite]

^Chris, you're out of line. The reference to the Old Testament was pertaining to Israel and Israeli interpretations of the Tanakh. Totally relevant, even if you consider the OT irrelevant to a discussion of Christianity it is 100% relevant to a discussion of Israel and Israelis.

There are quite a few recorded attacks by Orthodox Israeli Jews against Israeli Messianic Jews(ie, Jewish Christians) and their houses of worship. There are plenty of issues related to the Israeli Rabbinate and their "certification" of the "Jewishness" of individuals and what marriages are recognized, etc etc.

That said, I'm not agreeing that this kid should be arrested or anything of the sort. Just pointing out that countries do have heresy laws on their books and they could, and have, enforced them. More to the point, citizens of those countries also have strong and sometimes violent reactions to heresy, apostasy or any kind of criticism of their faiths. Here in the US there is a play/musical that depicts Jesus as gay... when it was originally being done in NYC and most recently when it was performed at a university in Texas the theaters and producers received death threats. I can confidently say that where people hold to their religious convictions strongly it is not out of the norm for someone pushing the limits of tolerance to end up with death threats. It's certainly not unique to Muslim countries.

One last thing, and I should have gotten this in with my initial post, Darth when you say "you don't believe in an imaginary and intangible being who may or may not live in the sky" betrays an astonishingly childish(though typically ignorantly atheist) characterization of theism in general and Islam in particular here. I don't know any Muslims have believe God/Allah lives in the sky and there are no coherent Islamic theologians that have ever said such a thing.

[Chris Fleming]

"Chris, you're out of line."

Well I, for one, am glad we got that out of the way.

"The reference to the Old Testament was pertaining to Israel and Israeli interpretations of the Tanakh."

See, here I thought we were talking about the West Bank and here you want to talk about Israel and the Old Testament. Like I said, that train is NEVER late!

"Totally relevant, even if you consider the OT irrelevant to a discussion of Christianity it is 100% relevant to a discussion of Israel and Israelis."

Like I said, I thought this was something about Islam, and modern day Islam at that, and the West Bank. Gotta love that Muslim solidarity! But whatever. So the next time a Muslim family kills their daughter because she uncovered her wrist in public we can go straight to the "But, but, but Moses once said..." OT references.

[zenshiite]

^As ever, your idiocy on the question at hand is astounding. Good day.

Besides, I think Sprint's post was a response to the perception of this story and this thread as a distraction from the criticism of Israeli policies in the other thread. It comes off that way to me, too.

[Chris Fleming]

Why not start the next thread right here:

I'll post a hypothetical--Muslims kill journalist and then you can reply with telling me about how the ancient Israelis killed the Amorites. It all balances out.

[Methods]

I agree, we should burn the mother fucker, how dare he have an opinion and slander the divine essence. There goes his 500 virgins, what was he thinking...

Muslims, they are such a rad understanding religious culture, its a shame that the whole entire world cannot be governed by Muslim law...so beautiful!

[zenshiite]

^Do please shut the fuck up. Your bigoted bullshit doesn't help matters.

I'm a big proponent of the notion that Arabs are the worst enemies of Islam today as they were in the days of Muhammad. Fortunately they do not represent Islam in it's entirety, nor are they the majority of Muslims in this world.

I wonder at a bunch of people that talk shit like they know anything, and yet fail to recognize that the social situation this story comes from is a beleaguered people desperate for survival who become entrenched in a much more radicalized bastardization of their religion because of the desperation of their situation and stories like these come out. Iran is no different. 30 years of economic sanctions, wars imposed on them by imperialist agendas, etc has kept that country from ever coming out of the revolutionary mindset and fall into a more normalized socio-political point of view that would enable them to flourish and truly develop the institutions that would serve their country and culture best on their own terms.

It's a shock to you that people who are constantly stressed with the tyranny of occupation react violently to anything that disrupts their cohesion as a community? Shocking. Truly shocking.

I'll give you that there are often retrograde forces at play in Muslim lands, but that is no more or less the rule there than anywhere else. You think Taoists haven't perpetrated some fucked up shit Methods? I suggest you recheck your Chinese history. The same goes for Christians, in many parts of the world. There are Christians engaged in slaughter in Africa and Indonesia right now just as much as their Muslim neighbors. Show me a continent where human beings haven't done some completely insane shit to other human beings inspired by some ideology, religious or otherwise.

This story just comes off as if to say "see, those Palestinians are subhuman animals who don't deserve to live free from the tyranny of their European-descended occupiers." Thanks for your time you oh so enlightened geniuses. How would the world ever get along without the likes of you talking shit and sewing division amongst people with your short-sighted ignorant points of view?

Give me a fuckin' break.

[Interloper]

^As ever, your idiocy on the question at hand is astounding. Good day.

Besides, I think Sprint's post was a response to the perception of this story and this thread as a distraction from the criticism of Israeli policies in the other thread. It comes off that way to me, too.

It was interesting to see the differing perspectives on this thread, fueled by personal agendas. In truth, despite my participation and on threads about Israel, and my obvious stand on the issues, I wasn't thinking about that when I saw this story on Yahoo. I posted it only because it just seemed like such a strange situation, having a person living two very different lives that were eventually uncovered by Facebook, of all things. I was thinking mostly about how technology and communications have changed and influence -- and sometimes un-do -- people's lives. Think about it. This guy gets a harsh sentence for leading a double life; tangentially, the people on this forum go away with bad feelings about a terrible international conflict and about each other. On a board that is supposed to be about internal MAs.

Yes, I did think that the sentence was harsh, and that fundamentalist religionists, when in power, can make life miserable for anyone who does not toe the line, but mainly I just thought it was a weird story.