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Anyone keen on hate speech laws needs to spend a year in Pakistan, living under their Islamic blasphemy laws.

It’s heartbreaking stuff. I’ve been writing about its victims for a few years now, and it hits me hard every time.

Two Christian teens are set to be hanged over cartoons sent to their mobile phones by a Muslim, whom authorities let off.

Their lawyer has rightly called their sentencing “the murder of justice”.

Nouman Asghar and Sunny Mushtaq are from the Punjab province and have been in prison since 2019.

Their alleged crime was “blaspheming the prophet Mohammed” after receiving cartoon drawings of the warlord on their mobile phones through WhatsApp.

Notably, authorities didn’t take any action against Bilal Ahmad, a Muslim, who sent the so-called “blasphemous” images.

In June 2023, Asghar, now 25, was sentenced to death by hanging.

Mushtaq awaits the same grim sentencing.

He’s also been accused of printing the cartoons, and distributing them.

Human Rights Violations

International Christian Concern, quoting from Agenzia Fides, said the men were arrested for “violating article 295-c of the Penal Code, which punishes contempt for the Prophet Mohammed.”

Lawyer Aneeqa Maria Anthony said the “magistrate ignored all the procedures and dismissed all the evidence.”

“He only wanted to complete his ‘sacred duty’ to punish an alleged blasphemer.”

Legal defence team member Lazar Allah Rakha told The Catholic Herald,

“There was no proof against Nouman, and none of the witnesses produced by police could corroborate the blasphemy allegation.”

“This is murder of justice.”

Speaking about the weaponisation of blasphemy legislation, Jeff King, ICC’s president, remarked that these kinds of laws are “often used to settle personal scores or persecute minorities.”

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) explained that it’s aware of at least “80 individuals in Pakistan who remain imprisoned on blasphemy charges.”

The majority face the death penalty.

According to the USCIRF,

“Under sections 295 and 298 of Pakistan’s Penal Code, individuals are prohibited from verbal and nonverbal actions deemed insulting to religious belief and practice.”

All that’s required to enact these laws is an accusation.

Legal justification for arrest is ambiguous.

Listing them, USCIRF said that reasons include:

• ‘inflicting physical damage on the Qur’an or other Islamic religious text, even if unintentional.’
• ‘sending and receiving text messages, sometimes unsolicited, which are later deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad or the Islamic faith.’
• ‘making comments in personal conversations that witnesses attest to be blasphemous in nature.’

The Islamist version of “hate speech laws” even comes with their own eSafety overwatch.

Criticism is banned, and social media use regulated.

Reasons for incarceration also include:

• ‘translating and uploading content to personal blogs and non-Muslim websites, or writing Facebook posts deemed to be insulting to the Islamic faith.’

Islamist Pakistan isn’t the only example.

India’s anti-conversion laws, in practice, offer just as many warnings.

Their equivalent in the West is “forced speak” LGBTQ+ laws punishing people for not living by its “legislated lies”, as Kirralie Smith puts it.

Persecution

Outside high-profile cases like Asia Bibi – now living in Canada – Pakistan’s persecution of free speech has hit families like Shagufta and Shafqat Emmanuel‘s.

They were arrested on blasphemy charges in 2013 after police raided their home.

As they are a mum and dad of four, their kids faced death threats, and have had to move around a lot.

The Emmanuels served seven years in prison before being acquitted in 2021, with the help of hero lawyer Saif ul Malook – Asia Bibi’s legal representative.

Islamic blasphemy laws teach us what’s wrong with “hate speech” regulation.

Those suffering under the weight of these laws speak volumes to Westerners about the dangers of false accusations and vague legislation.

The two cases from Pakistan – among many others – certify the insanity of Westerners romancing “hate speech” and “misinformation/disinformation” e-safetyism.

Adopting blasphemy laws to protect the ideas and false utopianism taught by both Marx and Mohammed would quickly wreck the West.

There’s already a movement in the United Kingdom demanding that Islam be considered a “race”, and “Islamophobia” policed as ‘racism’.

This back-door blasphemy law would ban criticism of Islam, while protecting Islamist and far-left extremism.

Just like India’s conversion laws and Islam’s blasphemy laws, “hate speech” laws are a prescription for persecution.

These anti-free speech laws are a licence to murder justice.

They serve a subjectivist dystopia.

As I’ve shown, the lessons are clear: “hate speech” laws are easily weaponised, and just as easily abused.

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Image courtesy of Adobe.