In his speech at the U.N., the president will have the chance to distinguish his world vision from Mitt Romney's. Time Magazine Bobby Ghosh and former State Department Egypt Officer Joel Rubin discuss.
By Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News
News Analysis
CAIRO ??An ultra-conservative Islamist cleric in Egypt faces charges of blasphemy after he?allegedly tore up and burned copies of the New Testament at a protest in front of the American Embassy in Cairo.
Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud Abdallah, also known as Sheikh Abu Islam, is part owner of a private ultra-conservative Islamic TV station known as Al Uma and was participating in demonstrations against a U.S.-made movie denigrating the Prophet Muhammad that swept the Muslim world in the last month. (Click here for a video of the demonstration on YouTube).
Egypt?s General Prosecutor accused Abu Islam and his son, the channel's executive director, of insulting religion ??in this case Christianity.?
US embassies under siege; Family mourns former SEAL killed in Libya; Anti-Islamic film actors horrified at lip dubbing; Obama: Egypt neither ally nor enemy; Missile test creates cloud-like contrail; Kate Middleton takes center stage
The case is a rare example of the country?s often-criticized blasphemy laws being used against someone who allegedly insulted a religion that is not Islam. That trial is scheduled to begin September 30.
Is atheism blasphemy?
Another case that has received less attention illustrates the quandary Egyptians find themselves in amid the explosion of protests and expression following the revolution that deposed President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
One Wednesday, a 24-year-old self-described atheist appeared in court to face charges that he was in contempt of religion by posting links to websites that promoted atheism.
Egypt issues arrest warrants for Terry Jones, Coptic Christians
Saber Eyead Zaki also allegedly posted the link to the controversial video that has triggered global protests known as the "Innocence of Muslims" on his Facebook page.
Egyptian human rights organizations have say that Zaki has been tortured and was being held at an undisclosed location. ?His house was searched without a proper warrant when no one was home, they contend.
Security forces faced violent protests in Egypt and Yemen spurred by angry mobs accusing the U.S. of insulting the prophet Mohammad. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
A video posted online shows the moment he was taken into custody?? a mob hurls insults at him and try to attack him as he is being whisked away by police.
As these simultaneous trials show, even sharing an idea is now enough to land you in jail in Egypt. This may seem a contradiction ??given that many Egyptians cite?the explosion of free speech, alongside the right to protest, as a major gain of the revolution.?
So the key question many Egyptians face is: Does more media and the right to protest mean freer speech?
The trials also are the latest examples that the government is taking a zero-tolerance approach to those who would question or criticize religion, let alone mock it and insult it.
Traditionally, this has been a one-way street, with most of those being tried cited for insulting Islam, including famed Egyptian icon and actor Adel Imam. Most insults to Christianity in Egypt have gone unpunished from references in media to derogatory and inflammatory comments made publicly.?
Zoubeir Souissi / Reuters
Tunisian protesters burn the U.S. flag during a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy in Tunis on Sept. 12, 2012. Tunisian police fired teargas and rubber bullets into the air on Wednesday to disperse a protest over a U.S.-made film depicting the Prophet Mohammad near the U.S. Embassy in the capital Tunis.
The two cases, along with others since the revolution, have really challenged Egyptians definition of free speech and whether the legal system in Egypt is capable of defending the right of people to express themselves freely especially when it comes to the issue of religion.?
Perhaps the biggest challenge to come is whether such limitations will be enshrined in the forthcoming constitution.
Many are already ringing the alarm bells that the new constitution may enshrine restrictions on free speech rather protecting it. If so, many Egyptians will undoubtedly feel that perhaps the one gain the revolution produced in the short run was merely an illusion.?
More world stories from NBC News:
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
?
?
gillian anderson leah remini desean jackson kyle orton kyle orton ncaa tournament schedule black and tan
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন