Saudi Arabia Arrests Christian Blogger

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have detained a 28-year-old blogger, Hamoud Bin Saleh, for publicly writing about his conversion from Islam to Christianity on his website.

He was arrested for "his opinions and announcement at his blog that he converted from Islam to Christianity", according to a report by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

The Saudi officials have now blocked Bin Saleh's blog, "Masihi Saudi", at http://christforsaudi.blogspot.com/

Bin Saleh's previous release from prison in November of 2009 coincided with the Saudi-initiated interfaith dialogue, held at the United Nations in New York, suggesting that his release came only because his arrest might have "tarnished its image" and "exposed the Saudi government's false allegations."

Immediately following the conference, the report indicated that Saudi officials chose to arrest Bin Saleh "because the entire world is busy following up on the aggression on Gaza, and the Saudi authorities may seize the chance to make an example with nobody watching."

Bin Saleh's case is especially urgent in that we know that this is not the first time that Saudi converts from Islam to Christianity have suffered terrible mistreatment:

In August of 2008, a female convert from Islam to Christianity was burned to death by her father. Her father was a member of the mutaween (Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice), an arm of the government that enforces religious purity and is the government's face of persecution to Christians in Saudi Arabia. She had also disclosed her faith on a website.

Please call the Saudi Arabian embassy in your country and ask the officials at the embassies to release him from prison.

Saudi Arabian embassies:

India:

Saudi Arabia Embassy, India

2, Paschimi Marg, Vasant Vihar

110057

New Delhi

Phone:
+91-11-26144102
+91-11-26144073
+91-11-26144083

Fax:
+91-11-26144244
+91-11-26144201

USA:

(202) 342-3800
(202) 337-4084
Info@saudiembassy.net

UK:

(0)2079173000
ukemb@mofa.gov.sa

Canada:
(613)237-4100
(613)237-0567

Australia
(o2) 6250 7000
(02) 6282 8911

Silencing Islam's Critics

Dutch court imports Saudi rules:

According to the Wall Street Journal a Dutch court imports Saudi rules for the prosecution of parliamentarian Geert Wilders, in their publication on Thursday.

The concept of punishing people for insulting the religious feelings of other people approaches dangerously close to blasphemy laws as preferred by Islamic countries.

The commentator scorns the decision to prosecute Wilders, for "if freedom of speech means something , it also includes the freedom to have controversial opinions."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123258473846504459.html

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2009/01/court-imports-saudi-rules.html

Taliban Demands End To Music On Pakistan Buses

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Bus drivers in northwest Pakistan have begun removing audio and video equipment from their vehicles after Taliban militants threatened suicide attacks against those who played music or movies for their passengers, an industry official said Tuesday.

Transport workers in Mardan town received letters this week from militants saying that buses offering such entertainment were guilty of spreading "vulgarity and obscenity", Walid Mir, general secretary of the town's transport union, told The Associated Press.

The militants said they would check the buses and that suicide attacks would be carried out against vehicles that still had audio and video equipment - prompting union members to act quickly, Mir said.
The Taliban letter complained that traveling in buses that provide audiovisual entertainment was a "source of mental agony for pious people," according to a text obtained by AP.

"It is obligatory on us to stop such violations. We request you to remove the vulgar systems...otherwise suicide bombers are ready," the letter said.

Mardan lies in the Northwest Frontier Province just outside Pakistan's volatile tribal belt where extremists among the Taliban, al-Qaeda and local groups are waging a violent campaign against authorities in a bid to impose their strict interpretation of Islam.

Elsewhere in northwest Pakistan, extremists have targeted girls'schools, police posts and other symbols of authority.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban regime that was forced from power in late 2001 banned art, secular music and television, vandalized the national museum and destroyed artwork or statues deemed idolatrous or anti-Muslim.

Local police said they had no knowledge of the threat.

"Certainly, we can look into it if we receive a complaint," Mardan police chief Syed Akhtar Ali Shah said.

Mir said the transport companies had no plans to make a report.

"W did not report it to police because it is a matter of human lives. What can the police do? It involves the lives of hundreds of passengers, and we do not want to put them in danger," Mir said.

Associated Press reporters Asif Shahzad and Christopher Bodeen contributed to this report from Islamabad.

Hamas adopted Sharia Criminal Code

It was lost amid the news of Israel's counterattack on Hamas in the past few days, but Hamas' leadership passed several new laws for Gaza in December.

They've adopted the Sharia criminal code, which legalize a number of medieval punishments including cutting off of hands, stoning, lashing and crucifixion.

Possession of wine will now get you 40 lashes in Gaza City. Thus does Hamas express its solidarity with its patron and inspiration, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20090109/OPINIONS/901090304/1006/OPINIONS