Nouakchott – Showing repentance will no longer prevent the death penalty from being applied for blasphemy and apostasy, Mauritania said on Friday, as the conservative Muslim nation hardens up its religious laws.
The decision follows the release on November 9 of a blogger previously condemned to death for criticising religious justification for discrimination in Mauritanian society.
A new bill will “harden up expected sentences for blasphemers,” the government of the west African nation said in a statement released by the official AMI news agency.
“Every Muslim, man or woman, who mocks or insults Mohammed (peace be upon him), his angels, books… is liable to face the death penalty, without being asked to repent. They will incur the death penalty even if they repent,” Justice Minister Brahim Ould Daddah said, according to the statement.
The decision to free blogger Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir for time served after his sentence for blasphemy was downgraded from death to two years in jail caused clashes and outrage in Mauritania last week.
A Muslim in his thirties, Mkheitir was sentenced in December 2014 over a blog which questioned decisions taken by the Prophet Mohammed and his companions during holy wars in the seventh century.
He also attacked the mistreatment of Mauritania’s black population, blasting “an iniquitous social order” with an underclass that was “marginalised and discriminated against from birth.”
Prosecutors have appealed the decision to release the blogger and are calling once more for the death penalty to be handed down.
Mauritania has not carried out the death penalty since 1987.
Justice Minister Ould Daddah said times had changed since the original law was written in 1983, and “consequentially the law has to move on,” AMI reported.
Nouakchott – Showing repentance will no longer prevent the death penalty from being applied for blasphemy and apostasy, Mauritania said on Friday, as the conservative Muslim nation hardens up its religious laws.
The decision follows the release on November 9 of a blogger previously condemned to death for criticising religious justification for discrimination in Mauritanian society.
A new bill will “harden up expected sentences for blasphemers,” the government of the west African nation said in a statement released by the official AMI news agency.
“Every Muslim, man or woman, who mocks or insults Mohammed (peace be upon him), his angels, books… is liable to face the death penalty, without being asked to repent. They will incur the death penalty even if they repent,” Justice Minister Brahim Ould Daddah said, according to the statement.
The decision to free blogger Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir for time served after his sentence for blasphemy was downgraded from death to two years in jail caused clashes and outrage in Mauritania last week.
A Muslim in his thirties, Mkheitir was sentenced in December 2014 over a blog which questioned decisions taken by the Prophet Mohammed and his companions during holy wars in the seventh century.
He also attacked the mistreatment of Mauritania’s black population, blasting “an iniquitous social order” with an underclass that was “marginalised and discriminated against from birth.”
Prosecutors have appealed the decision to release the blogger and are calling once more for the death penalty to be handed down.
Mauritania has not carried out the death penalty since 1987.
Justice Minister Ould Daddah said times had changed since the original law was written in 1983, and “consequentially the law has to move on,” AMI reported.
This is what Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, considers hate speech:
This is despicable. He openly considers protection for women within the Muslim communities “hate speech”. Now he is trying to backtrack, but he has already shown his true colors.
This is what Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, considers hate speech:
This is despicable. He openly considers protection for women within the Muslim communities “hate speech”. Now he is trying to backtrack, but he has already shown his true colors.
Mothers in Saudi Arabia can now retain custody of their children after divorce without filing lawsuits, according to a Saudi Information Ministry statement Monday, meaning the kingdom is breaking ranks with several other countries in the region that heavily favor male guardianship.
The move comes as part of a series of sweeping social and economic reforms known as Vision 2030. Initiated over the past two years, the reforms have been spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Previously, a Saudi woman was required to petition courts, sometimes for years, to win custody of children after a divorce. The Saudi Justice Ministry released a circular to the courts that specifies that, barring a dispute between the parents, a mother is required only to apply for custodianship. This represents a significant improvement in women’s rights in the country, even though custodianship still goes to the father by default.
The new custody process sets the traditionally ultraconservative kingdom apart from several other countries in the region on issues of equal gender treatment in divorce. Places such as the United Arab Emirates and Egypt –– influenced by traditional interpretations of Islamic law – consider the father the child’s natural guardian, and grant him complete physical custody after a child has reached a certain age.
“This is something that I’ve wanted every day. The progress that has happened at the Ministry of Justice when it comes to personal status issues, especially regarding women and children, has been amazing,” said Saudi domestic-abuse activist Samira AlGhamdi, who said she has been working for better rights for divorced women for 17 years. “It used to be that a woman would spend years in court just so she could see her children,” she added.
The move also allows divorced mothers to conduct their children’s legal affairs and keep their passports, a significant step for a country where women still require a male guardian’s consent to travel, divorce, get a job or have elective surgery. The circular stops short of allowing a woman to leave the country with her children without a judge’s permission.
The announcement comes six months after the kingdom declared that women would be able to drive, the culmination of years of activism and appeals from inside and outside the Gulf nation.
Saudi Arabia, which adheres to some of the strictest interpretations of Sunni Islam in the world, has long been accused of formal legal discrimination against women.
The 2017 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum ranked the kingdom 138th out of 144 countries on gender parity, ahead of only Iran, Yemen and Syria in the Middle East.
“This move is very, very important because in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the region we have lots of problems when it comes to personal status laws and everything that has to do with marriage, what comes after marriage and during marriage,” said Lebanese human-rights lawyer Manar Zaiter. “Custody issues are one of the region’s biggest problems.”
Mothers in Saudi Arabia can now retain custody of their children after divorce without filing lawsuits, according to a Saudi Information Ministry statement Monday, meaning the kingdom is breaking ranks with several other countries in the region that heavily favor male guardianship.
The move comes as part of a series of sweeping social and economic reforms known as Vision 2030. Initiated over the past two years, the reforms have been spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Previously, a Saudi woman was required to petition courts, sometimes for years, to win custody of children after a divorce. The Saudi Justice Ministry released a circular to the courts that specifies that, barring a dispute between the parents, a mother is required only to apply for custodianship. This represents a significant improvement in women’s rights in the country, even though custodianship still goes to the father by default.
The new custody process sets the traditionally ultraconservative kingdom apart from several other countries in the region on issues of equal gender treatment in divorce. Places such as the United Arab Emirates and Egypt –– influenced by traditional interpretations of Islamic law – consider the father the child’s natural guardian, and grant him complete physical custody after a child has reached a certain age.
“This is something that I’ve wanted every day. The progress that has happened at the Ministry of Justice when it comes to personal status issues, especially regarding women and children, has been amazing,” said Saudi domestic-abuse activist Samira AlGhamdi, who said she has been working for better rights for divorced women for 17 years. “It used to be that a woman would spend years in court just so she could see her children,” she added.
The move also allows divorced mothers to conduct their children’s legal affairs and keep their passports, a significant step for a country where women still require a male guardian’s consent to travel, divorce, get a job or have elective surgery. The circular stops short of allowing a woman to leave the country with her children without a judge’s permission.
The announcement comes six months after the kingdom declared that women would be able to drive, the culmination of years of activism and appeals from inside and outside the Gulf nation.
Saudi Arabia, which adheres to some of the strictest interpretations of Sunni Islam in the world, has long been accused of formal legal discrimination against women.
The 2017 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum ranked the kingdom 138th out of 144 countries on gender parity, ahead of only Iran, Yemen and Syria in the Middle East.
“This move is very, very important because in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the region we have lots of problems when it comes to personal status laws and everything that has to do with marriage, what comes after marriage and during marriage,” said Lebanese human-rights lawyer Manar Zaiter. “Custody issues are one of the region’s biggest problems.”
Imagine if over a dozen Western countries criminalized Islam, if the “crime” could be met with death, often at the hands of the public. This is the *actual* state of apostates in Muslim countries. Even in Muslim communities in the West, we are abused,ostracized, threatened. Yet when we criticize the same belief system which denies our right to exist, it is *we* who are condemned as “hate-mongers”. Even *in the West*, outspoken ex-Muslim atheists have far more to fear than outspoken Muslims – why is that? Even “progressive” Muslims disparage us as “in it for money” (or attention/acceptance), as if smears + threats are an easy price to pay, as if only a thirst for fame and riches can explain why a group ACTIVELY hunted, tortured, killed across the world may wish to speak out. Do Muslims face bigotry at the hands of far-right? OF COURSE, and I know. I’m perceived to be Muslim, I’m still affected by that hate. But if Muslims treated ex-Muslims as the western Right treats them, I WOULD REJOICE at the profound improvement in our state. THAT is the gravity of our persecution- but still, it is *we* who are told to shut up, *we* who are told that “now is not the time”. But if not now, when? When would it be a convenient time for my oppressors to address my oppression? It would be unjust to smear Muslims who fight against bigotry they face – so why is it reasonable to smear those who face far worse? Those who find it easy to sympathize with Muslims but cannot manage the same for those harmed BY Muslims are moral imbeciles at best and handmaidens for murderous religious intolerance at worst. If you cannot distinguish between religious criticism and bigotry, if you cannot simultaneously grasp the necessity of standing for the rights of Muslims AND dismantling the horrors by their hands, then you have forsaken the principles upon which all modern progress stands, and are as damaging to it as any xenophobic bigot.
Celtyradfem 