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Sounding less like a supposed foreign policy expert and more like someone who's been listening to way too much late, late night left-wing radio, Zbigniew Brzezinski claimed to see the outlines of a "conspiracy" in the making of the anti-Mohammed movie trailer. Saying "it's not an issue of freedom of speech entirely," Jimmy Carter's former National Security Adviser suggested on Morning Joe today that the makers of the movie could be held "liable" for the deaths of the US Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. He recommended that the United States should "investigate and crack down" on "evil forces"...

Muslim leaders were in unison at the United Nations this week arguing that the West was hiding behind its defense of freedom of speech and ignoring cultural sensitivities in the aftermath of anti-Islam slurs that have raised fears of a widening East-West cultural divide. A video made in California depicting the Prophet Mohammad as a fool sparked the storming of U.S. and other Western embassies in many Islamic countries and a deadly suicide bombing in Afghanistan this month. The crisis deepened when a French magazine published caricatures of the Prophet. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it was time to...

Updated at 3:49 a.m. ET: 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. Egypt’s General Prosecutor accused Abu Islam and his son, the channel's executive director, of...

"They're Baaaack: British Terror Supporters Re-launch al-Muhajiroun, Dedicated to "Raising Flag of Islam over Downing Street"" SNIPPET: "A group of terror supporters in the UK have relaunched an organization dedicated banning criticism of Islam, beheading "blasphemers", and killing adulterers. The new and improved al-Muhajiroun will once again be led by Anjem Choudary, chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers. The organization was originally founded by Omar Bakri Muhammad who was recently convicted in absentia by a Lebanese court of helping train al Qaeda's local affiliate. He has also been banned from reentering the UK. The group disbanded after a conference...

Should we have the right to disobey Islamic law? The future of western civilization hinges on our response to this question. Right now people are suggesting that “hate speech” should not be free speech because when people blaspheme Mohammed, Muslim extremists riot and kill. “When some people use this freedom of expression to provoke or humiliate some others’ values and beliefs, then this cannot be protected in such a way.” – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon The extended liberal argument is that if you make Islamists mad, you know they’re going to kill, so you bear some responsibility for those deaths,...

Arab League chief Nabil al-Araby said Wednesday that the league, along with the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the European Union and the African Union are close to formulating an international agreement penalizing blasphemy and insults to religious figures.

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomes Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu to Washington this week, it is critical that Americans pay attention to what these two leaders intend to do. From 12 to 14 December 2011, working teams from the Department of State (DoS) and the OIC are going to discuss implementation mechanisms that could impose limits on freedom of speech and expression. The OIC's purpose, as stated explicitly in its April 2011 4th Annual Report on Islamophobia, is to criminalize "incitement to hatred and violence on religious grounds." Incitement is to be...

In a move that could escalate tensions around the Arab world, the leader of the Hezbollah militant group called for protests against the movie and said the U.S. must be held accountable for the film. In a televised speech, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah pushed for the creation of an international law that would ban insults of Islam and other religions, citing similar laws that exist to prevent anti-Semitism. His outrage stems from the anti-Islam film produced by a mysterious convict based in California, that has since sparked protests outside American embassies in the Middle East and across the globe....

September 17, 2012Iran Says It May File A Lawsuit Against Obama Over Mohammed Film… The kicker: They are basing the lawsuit on a U.N. resolution Obama championed.Via the Iranian regime’s official propaganda outfit PressTV: A senior Iranian official says US President Barack Obama could face legal action in connection with the production of an anti-Islam movie by an American....“A complaint could be filed with US courts against Obama for his violation of articles 18 and 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) calling for respect of faiths,” Javad Mohammadi, the deputy head of the Supreme Council...

In December the Obama Administration pushed a UN resolution that banned criticism of Islam. The Obama Administration helped the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) push through their resolution condemning the stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of people based on religion. Team Obama led the way for the resolution to pass through the General Assembly. Now the Iranian Regime is threatening to sue Barack Obama using that same blasphemy law. Press TV reported: A senior Iranian official says US President Barack Obama could face legal action in connection with the production of an anti-Islam movie by an American Jew. “A complaint...

President Barack Obama’s top civil rights official repeatedly declined to support religious free speech during a July 27 congressional hearing, despite repeated questioning from Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks, who chairs the House’s constitution subcommittee. Tom Perez, the progressive who runs the Justice Department’s civil rights office, refused to answer the questions posed by Franks. “Will you tell us… that this administration’s Department of Justice will never entertain or advance a proposal that criminalizes speech against any religion?” Frank asked four times. Perez refused to answer, saying “it is a hard question, in the sense that when you make threats...

A visiting U.N. human rights expert has drawn fresh attention to the abuses arising from Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, reporting that fear of reprisals result in intimidated judges bringing convictions without evidence while lawyers avoid taking up cases. The criticism by Gabriela Knaul, a “special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers,” came at the end of an 11-day visit to Pakistan to study the country’s judicial system, the first by a U.N. human rights expert since 1999. Pakistan generally manages to sidestep censure at the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body in which it wields substantial influence through its...

A court acquitted a Christian couple of “blasphemy” charges yesterday, overturning their life sentences, their lawyer said. Chaudhry Naeem Shakir told Compass that Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court accepted the couple’s appeal because prosecutors failed to prove allegations that 32-year-old Munir Masih and his wife Ruqayya defiled the Quran or insulted Muhammad on Dec. 8, 2008. The allegations by Muhammad Nawaz in Mustafabad, Kasur district, came under sections 295-B and 295-C respectively of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which are routinely employed to exact revenge on Christians over personal disputes; in this case, the Christian couple’s children...

e-mail this to a friend printable version » 01/12/2011 16:44PAKISTANBlasphemy law: Pope’s call highlights split in Pakistani societyby Jibran KhanRadical leaders and Islamic movements incite crowds and warn Christians against forming a party to repeal the law, a step that would bring chaos. The government denies it plans changes to the law. Civil society leaders appreciate Benedict XVI’s speech. Bilawal Bhutto defends minorities. Muslim intellectual calls for full religious freedom and a secular state. Lahore (AsiaNews) – The Pope’s call on Pakistan to repeal the blasphemy law shows how divided the country is. Radical leaders and Islamic movements are...

The governor of Pakistan's powerful Punjab province has been killed by one of his own guards at a market in the capital Islamabad, police have said. It was the most high-profile assassination of a political figure in the country since former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in December 2007. The latest victim, Salman Taseer, was shot dead by a member of his elite security team after he reached Khosar Market, police said. Witnesses reportedly claimed a man fired two shots at the governor as he was leaving his vehicle. One said: "The governor fell down and the man who...