Shifting political winds in the North African countries of Egypt and Sudan will leave their mark on history, but local attitudes ensure one thing remains unchanged: The laws against defaming Islam will stand like granite in a sandstorm.
The law in Egypt, in theory meant to discourage people from offending others’ religious sensitivities, is instead used to stifle free speech and punish and intimidate those who do not subscribe to the orthodox version of Sunni Islam practiced by most in Egypt, human rights advocates and religious dissident groups said.
“In general in Egypt, things are in flux, but because these particular issues are so hot-button, I would not expect, even with a new regime, any changes in these laws,” said Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute in Washington.
Still Marshall said after the national demonstrations of Jan. 25–Feb. 11 that led to the ousting of the president, there may be changes coming in the way the statute is applied.
Article 98(f), known to Egyptian attorneys as the “contempt of religion” charge, states, “Whoever exploits religion in order to promote extremist ideologies by word-of-mouth, in writing or in any other manner, with a view to stirring up sedition, disparaging or contempt of any divine religion or its adherents or prejudicing national unity shall be punished with imprisonment between six months and five years or paying a fine of at least 500 Egyptian pounds [$85].”
Strictly speaking, Article 98(f) is not an anti-blasphemy law but is used in much the same way as other anti-blasphemy laws throughout the Middle East and the greater Islamic world.
Typically the law is used to punish people not for actually insulting any religion but for choosing a spiritual path not accepted by the government. It is what is known as a “status crime,” where one isn’t punished for doing something but for being something.
“If you become a Christian, you are likely to be accused of insulting Islam on grounds that you left, and therefore you are [supposedly] saying it’s bad,” Marshall said.
By comparison, no convert from Christianity to Islam has ever been charged with Article 98(f) for defiling Christianity.
Converts to Christianity aren’t alone in falling prey to the law. People in Egypt who follow the Baha’i faith, adherents of the Islamic Shia tradition and numerous other non-Sunnis have all been brought up on defamation charges.
According to Azza Taher Matar of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, cases of a Muslim accused of defamation for holding a dissenting view are the most common ones.
“Most cases result from Muslims debating Islam or Islamic history and the Arabic empire,” Matar said.
Human rights advocates say it is nearly impossible to find out how many people are charged under the defamation statute in Egypt.
Another aspect of the law is that it is enforced unequally and in a way that is seemingly meant to protect the sensitivities of the majority from the minority but not the other way around.
Even the protections that in theory are extended to Judaism and Christianity are tenuous at best. Anti-Semitism is rife in Egypt. People insult Judaism and its adherents in the media and in the public arena “every day and every way in Egypt” without anyone being called to task under Article 98(f), according to Marshall.
On a few rare occasions, the state has intervened when media professionals have insulted Christianity on television, but by and large, people “defame” Christianity and its core ideas in the public sphere with no recrimination.
According to a survey conducted in 2009 by WorldPublicOpinion.org, 71 percent of Egyptians agreed with the statement “The government should have the right to fine or imprison people who [publicly] criticize a religion because such criticism could defame the religion.”
Part of the reason the law is unlikely to change is that Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution states, “Islam is the religion of the state. Arabic is its official language, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence.”
In Sudan’s Sunni Muslim-majority north, violation of Section 125 of the Sudanese Criminal Act, which prohibits “insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs,” is punishable by imprisonment of one year, a fine and 40 lashes.
“This article is being used by the police to crush any person who leaves Islam for Christianity,” one Sudanese convert to Christianity said.
Since the non-Islamic south is set to split from the Islamic north July 9, Christians remaining in the north are particularly vulnerable, and the U.S. State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report describes Khartoum as having a “significant Christian population,” due in part to migration during the long civil war.
While convictions may be rare, Christian converts from Islam said they continue to be victims of Sudan’s blasphemy law.
The State Department report notes that while Sudan’s Interim National Constitution provides for freedom of religion throughout the country, it establishes Shariah (Islamic law) as a source of legislation in the north while Southern Sudan’s constitution provide for freedom of religion “contributed to the generally free practice of religion.”
“Those who leave Islam know they may be victims of this article,” a source in Khartoum told Compass Direct News. (CDN)
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