*[image: Images intégrées 1]*
*______________________________________________________________________*


*PRESS RELEASE
<https://rsf.org/en/news/three-years-after-charlie-tragedy-death-still-threatens-blaspheming-journalists>*
​05.01.2018

* <https://www.facebook.com/Reporterssansfrontieres>
<https://twitter.com/RSF_Europe>*


*​Three years after Charlie tragedy​*
*​, death still threatens "blaspheming" journalists ​*


*On the eve of the third anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre,
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores the fact that dozens of
journalists worldwide are still the targets of calls for their execution or
are sentenced to death because they are deemed to be guilty of blasphemy or
apostasy. *

Writing or talking about religious matters continues to be delicate, to the
point that you can risk losing your life. Three years after 12 people were
killed at the Paris headquarters of the French satirical weekly *Charlie
Hebdo* on 7 January 2015, those who censor in the name of God still pose
one of the gravest threats to the freedom to inform almost everywhere in
the world.



From one continent to the next, calls for the deaths of journalists accused
of blasphemy circulate widely on social networks. In France, anonymous
Internet users call for more attacks on *Charlie Hebdo*. In Bangladesh,
calls are being made for *Shyamal Dutta*
<http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2017/dec/30/commonwealth-journalists-association-expresses-concern-over-threats-to-bangladeshi-scribe-1740692.html>,
the editor of the daily newspaper *Bhorer Kagaj*, and his staff to be
publicly hanged because a 23 December article said a book about the Hadiths
(sayings of the Prophet) that had been published by a government entity
contained “vulgarities.”



In Bangladesh, as in Pakistan, fundamentalist groups and religious
extremists tolerated by the authorities threaten journalists and bloggers
with complete impunity, when they don’t abduct them or hack them to death*.
It was exactly one year ago, on 7 January 2017, that the Pakistani
blogger *Samar
Abbas <https://rsf.org/fr/les-journalistes-disparus>* disappeared. He was
the founder of Civil Progressive Alliance Pakistan, a group that posted
articles online defending religious freedom. Four other bloggers were
abducted around the same time.



After they went missing, a massive online smear campaign began accusing
them of blasphemy, which carries the death penalty in Pakistan. Four of the
five bloggers were released after several weeks but none of them dared to
identify their abductors. The threat received by the family of one of the
victims was explicit
<https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/disappearance-asim-saeed>: “*You
who have blasphemed deserve death. You are out of Islam and should be ready
for a painful punishment, which will be remembered by your generations to
come.*”



In Algeria, *Abdou Semmar*, the editor of the investigative online
newspaper *Algériepart* and host of “*L’Emission Impossible,*” a programme
on privately-owned *Beur TV*, has been reduced to hoping that he and his
colleagues do not have to pay the highest price for the programme broadcast
on 22 December, a debate about religious fanaticism that angered radical
Islamists
<https://www.maghreb-intelligence.com/algerie-fanatiques-menacent-journalistes-de-lemission-impossible/>
.



“*Ever since then, we have been subjected to a major campaign of threats
and harassment*,” he said. A video accusing them of attacking Islam, that
was broadcast on the Qatari TV channel *Al Jazeera*, served to fuel the
outrage. “*The fanatics are using it to attack us, and our families are
beginning to be very afraid for our lives.*”



“*In many parts of the world, reporting the facts is regarded as heretical
behaviour,*” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “*Fanatics do
not just harass and threaten cartoonists, subjecting them to extreme
violence. They also target journalists who cover religious matters and even
just social issues and public affairs. The prohibitions that these
extremists try to impose extend far beyond the religious domain"*.



“*The charge of blasphemy cannot, under any circumstances, justify an
exception to the freedom to inform. This is contrary to international law
and we therefore call for the repeal of all legislation that restricts the
freedom to inform in the name of religion.*”



*Charlie Hebdo* continues to be at the front line of the unequal battle
between fanatical censors and satirical journalists or cartoonists. Just
two months ago, the magazine’s front page that showed Tariq Ramadan – a
Swiss Islamic scholar accused of sexual assault – declaring himself to be
the “*6th pillar of Islam*” triggered a virulent campaign of insults and
death threats on social networks
<https://www.marianne.net/politique/une-sur-tariq-ramadan-charlie-hebdo-croule-sous-les-menaces-de-mort>
.



The continuing threats against *Charlie Hebdo* have a cost. A high one. In
its latest issue <https://charliehebdo.fr/en-kiosque/>, the magazine
reported that the proceeds from more than one of every two copies that it
sells have to be used to pay for protecting its headquarters and the
journalists who work there. Freedom of expression “*is in the process of
becoming a luxury product,*” publisher *Riss* said in an editorial.



“*Three years after the tragedy, solidarity with Charlie Hebdo is still a
moral obligation,*” Deloire added. “*The lives of its employees and the
magazine’s economic survival must be defended because Charlie is a symbol
that we cannot abandon without accepting defeat at the hands of religious
intolerance.*”



*70 countries still have blasphemy laws*


It is not just anonymous religious extremists who want blasphemy and
apostasy to be punishable by execution or other drastic penalties. No fewer
than 71 countries still had laws penalizing blasphemy at the start of 2017,
according to a report by the US Commission on International Religious
Freedom
<http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/Blasphemy%20Laws%20Report.pdf>.
Since then, only one of these countries – Denmark in July – has repealed
its blasphemy legislation
<http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2017/06/02/au-danemark-le-blaspheme-n-est-plus-un-delit_5138119_3214.html>.
Some countries envisage reinforcing their laws in order to punish
blasphemers more severely.



They include Mauritania. “*Any Muslim, man or woman, who mocks or insults
Allah or His Messenger (Mohammed), peace be upon him, His angels, His books
or one of His Prophets, is punishable by death
<https://rsf.org/en/news/abonnes.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2017/11/17/mauritanie-le-blaspheme-sera-systematiquement-passible-de-la-peine-de-mort_5216590_3212.html>
(...) even in the case of repentance,*” says a law approved by the
Mauritanian government on 16 November.



It was because he repented that the death sentence imposed on the
blogger *Mohamed
Ould Mkheitir* for a “blasphemous” post had been commuted to two years in
prison just four days earlier. Now repentance is no longer possible.
Mkheitir qualified for release on 9 November but his fate is still highly
uncertain. The authorities are holding him in a secret location
<https://rsf.org/fr/actualites/lettre-ouverte-au-president-mauritanien-pour-demander-la-liberation-du-blogueur-mohamed-cheikh-ould>,
officially for his own safety. But friends fear that he is being held to
give the supreme court time to reconsider his case and parliament time to
make the new law retroactive.



*RSF laureates convicted of blasphemy*



Blasphemy and apostasy are also punishable by death in Iran. *Soheil Arabi,
<https://rsf.org/fr/actualites/le-journaliste-polonais-tomasz-piatek-le-photographe-iranien-soheil-arabi-et-le-media-turc>*
an Iranian photographer and citizen-journalist who was awarded the RSF
Press Freedom Prize in 2017, has been held for the past four years for his
alleged role in creating a Facebook network that “blasphemed” Islam and
criticized the regime. After being sentenced to three years in prison and
30 lashes, he was retried a few months later and was sentenced to death.
The death sentence was eventually overturned and in 2015 he was finally
sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. What with being mistreated
and recently going on hunger strike for 52 days, he is now in very poor
physical and psychological health.



Saudi blogger *Raif Badawi
<https://rsf.org/fr/actualites/raif-badawi-cinq-ans-de-trop-dans-les-prisons-saoudiennes>,*
a 2014 RSF Press Freedom laureate, has spent the past five years in prison
for “insulting Islam.” Arrested for criticizing and mocking the religious
police on his online discussion forum, called the “*Liberal Saudi Network*,”
he was sentenced to ten years in prison, 1,000 lashes, a fine of 1 million
riyals and a ban on leaving the country for ten years after his release. As
in other cases, the sentence is out of all proportion to the alleged
offence.



*Blasphemy charge used to censor critics*



Far from protecting what is sacred, these laws are mostly used in practice
to stifle dissent, harass journalists and prevent any form of criticism of
the system of government and those in power. Vague concepts serve as tools
for persecuting dissident or minority views, as in the case of Sudanese
journalist *Shamael al-Nur* last February.

For writing in a column in the independent newspaper *Al-Tayyar* that,
“Islamic regimes are preoccupied with matters of virtue, women’s dress,
appearance, more than health and education issues,” she was threatened with
violence and with prosecution for apostasy, a charge punishable by death
<https://rsf.org/fr/actualites/une-journaliste-accusee-dapostasie-pour-un-editorial-sur-la-politique-de-sante-publique-au-soudan>
under the Sharia law in force in Sudan since 1983.



In a December 2013 report entitled “Blasphemy: Information sacrificed on
altar of religion,”
<https://rsf.org/sites/default/files/fr_rapport_blaspheme_bd.pdf> RSF
examined the impact of the use of blasphemy charges against journalists
worldwide, in particular the danger that they pose when used to restrict
freedom of expression.



*Four Bangladeshi bloggers
​were killed this way in 2015







*Mélisande MassoubreResponsable du Bu*
*reau Afrique / Head of the Africa Desk*

*REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES **| REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS*

__________________________________________________



Tel :  (33) 1 44 83 84 76

Skype: rsf_africa

Twitter: @RSF_Africa



CS 90247

75083 Paris Cedex 02


*www.rsf.org <http://www.rsf.org/>* | Twitter
<http://www.twitter.com/RSF_Africa> | *Facebook
<http://www.facebook.com/reporterssansfrontieres>*



*​*

-- 
Vous recevez ce message, car vous êtes abonné au groupe Google Groupes Gambia.
Pour vous désabonner de ce groupe et ne plus recevoir d'e-mails le concernant, envoyez un e-mail à l'adresse [log in to unmask]


¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤