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posted by martyb on Monday June 12 2017, @06:03AM   Printer-friendly

From Reuters:

A Pakistani counter-terrorism court has sentenced to death a man who allegedly committed blasphemy on Facebook, a government prosecutor said on Sunday, the first time someone has been handed the death penalty for blaspheming on social media.

[...] Shafiq Qureshi, public prosecutor in Bahawalpur, about 500km (300 miles) south of provincial capital Lahore, said Raza was convicted for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad, his wives and companions.

"An anti terrorism court of Bahawalpur has awarded him the death sentence," Qureshi told Reuters." It is the first ever death sentence in a case that involves social media."


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @06:52AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @06:52AM (#524157)

    For sure the region has quite a lot of backward horrible fucked up shit, but not that long ago the US had a big problem with lynching innocent black people and not too far before that crushing and drowning innocent people accused of witchery. Plus a ton of Christian motivated violence, sterilization and genocide of native americans, persecution of non-christians, the list can go ON and ON.

    So, what does this have to do with Pakistan? Lets use our superior experience and try and improve the region. You can't force people to instantly become better, they have to get there. However we can push them along. Enact various global punishments (trade sanctions and the like) and whatever else we can diplomatically get away with.

    Acting like xenophobic little children will NOT help the problem, but thanks for the input from the alcoholic and geriatric circles. Apologies to any drinkers or old people, just getting a zing in at the trolls.

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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 12 2017, @07:00AM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 12 2017, @07:00AM (#524162) Journal

    " Lets use our superior experience and try and improve the region. "

    That's exactly what Pakistan needs. Some fucking elitest, fascists to come in and rebuild the nation in their own image.

    And, you completely fail to undertand that ISLAM IS THE PROBLEM!!

    So, if you get your way, it becomes a contest between fascism, and totalitarianism. And, the people will lose, no matter who wins.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @07:06AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @07:06AM (#524168)

      You can lead a horse to water, but a fool will drown himself while declaring he isn't thirsty.

      • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday June 13 2017, @12:34AM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday June 13 2017, @12:34AM (#524737) Journal

        Way I heard was: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't lead a horticulture."

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @07:15AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @07:15AM (#524173)

    >Lets use our superior experience and try and improve the region
    Right after condemning the west for genocide. Okay then.

    >Enact various global punishments (trade sanctions and the like)
    You're new to this aren't you, the Norks haven't stopped being little shits.

    >Acting like xenophobic little children will NOT help the problem
    So does acting like World Police and assuming the world has the same values as you.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 13 2017, @05:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 13 2017, @05:29PM (#525028)

      I did not get much into the details of how it should be done, that is a longer conversation. I did reply to someone further down the thread saying we should use trade sanctions and isolationism. Military intervention is the worst, a society needs to fix itself. Imposing a new system will just create a large group of pissed off people leading to trouble down the road. That is what we are experiencing right now, the effects of world policing / imperialism.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by butthurt on Monday June 12 2017, @09:17AM

    by butthurt (6141) on Monday June 12 2017, @09:17AM (#524225) Journal

    > [...] not that long ago the US had a big problem with lynching innocent black people [...]

    There may still be a problem with executing innocent black people:

    From 1996 onwards, seven of the nine principal prosecution eyewitnesses changed all or part of their trial testimony. Dorothy Ferrell, for example, stated in a 2000 affidavit that she felt under pressure from police to identify Davis as the shooter because she was on parole for a shoplifting conviction. In a 2002 affidavit, Darrell Collins wrote that the police had scared him into falsely testifying by threatening to charge him as an accessory to the crime, and alleged that he had not seen Davis do anything to Young.
    [...]
    The execution by lethal injection began at 10:53 pm EDT. In his final words, Davis maintained his innocence [...]

    -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis [wikipedia.org]

    The prosecution’s case rested entirely on witness testimony.

    -- https://www.democracynow.org/2007/7/16/is_georgia_about_to_execute_an [democracynow.org]

    In New York, a black teenager who maintained his innocence was imprisoned for a lengthy period without trial:

    Kalief Browder (May 25, 1993 – June 6, 2015) was an American who was arrested at the age of 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack. He was imprisoned for three years on Rikers Island without trial and spent most of this time in solitary confinement. Two years after his release, Browder died by suicide.

    -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder [wikipedia.org]

    [...] Browder spent nearly 800 days in solitary confinement, a juvenile imprisonment practice that the New York Department of Corrections has now banned.

    -- https://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/1/accused_of_stealing_a_backpack_high [democracynow.org]

  • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Monday June 12 2017, @10:59AM (1 child)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Monday June 12 2017, @10:59AM (#524266) Homepage Journal

    "Lets use our superior experience and try and improve the region."

    Right. Because that worked so well in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Libya and (currently) in Syria. Plus all the times before in Central and South America.

    Maybe y'all (I'm assuming your a USAian) should just keep your noses out of other countries' business? See how that works out, for a change? Popping in to "improve" their lives only serves to identify you as the external enemy.

    As for the USA's history: Lynching pretty much ended a century ago; the very last one recorded was around 50 years ago. The Salem witch trials were rather longer ago. This hints at what needs to happen with Islamic countries: They need time (centuries) to become civilized. Best thing we could do would be to leave them strictly alone until that happens.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @06:32PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @06:32PM (#524572)

      I suggested things like trade sanctions, and basically these things should be done on the world level not by one country. I did not advocate invasion or anything. Isolate them, let them do whatever they want, they can come back to the world community once they stop their bullshit. Does that satisfy your requirements?

      Also, they were much more liberal in the 50s/60s, but then their extremists were propped up by world powers because the destabilization was politically useful. We fucked their shit up in a bad way, I'm advocating we actually try and help without all the deceptions.