It's a Mo-pig! And it was published by the OIC

Now that the image has been published (with permission?) by the world’s leading organisation of Islamic countries, which makes yearly calls for international blasphemy laws, can we conclude that it is acceptable to illustrate Motoon-related news stories with the relevant images? Or are we going to see street protests, death threats, and hack attacks against the OIC now?

(Hat tip: Islam in Europe)

The Malaysian Foreign Minister, Anifah Aman, stated in a press conference on Saturday:

Malaysia strongly denounces the reprinting of the caricature of Prophet Muhammad by three Swedish newspapers on 10 March 2010.

[Such] despicable acts disregard the sensitivity of the Muslim world in the name of freedom of expression.

Such irresponsible acts are provocative and offensive in nature and hence it is totally unacceptable.

Malaysia wishes to request the Swedish government to take measures against such publications to prevent the recurrence of such irresponsible acts in the future.

The conservative Islamic party PAS will organise a demonstration on Friday after prayers.

That should do it, Malaysia. It is only a matter of time before Sweden amends its constitution and takes control of its press.

The chastened Ahern told today’s Sunday Times (no link yet),

There was an incredibly sophisticated campaign [against me], mainly on the internet. I was only doing my duty in relation to it, because clearly it is in the constitution. The attorney general said ‘there is this absolute, mandatory thing… it is an offence, punishable by law.

Atheist Ireland said,

We reiterate our position that this law is both silly and dangerous: silly because it is introducing medieval canon law offence into a modern plularist republic; and dangerous because it incentives religious outrage and because its wording has already been adopted by Islamic States as part of their campaign to make blasphemy a crime internationally.

Although the final decision on the referendum rests with the cabinet, this looks like an occasion to congratulate everyone involved in the campaign. It just goes to show that defiance and ridicule can be powerful weapons. Maybe they should be used more often?

Bis Nichts Mehr Bleibt (Until Nothing Remains), is a 90-minute dramatisation of the true story of a German family torn apart by the secretive, pseudo-religious scam. It is produced by Germany’s main public TV network, ARD.

High-ranking fruit-loops from Scientology’s German HQ have branded the film “propaganda”, and are demanding to preview it before its scheduled release in late March. In spite of never having seen it, Jürg Stettler, a spokesman for the batshit-crazy organisation, said:

The truth is precisely the opposite of that which the ARD is showing.

ARD’s programme director Volker Herres has defended the film:

We’re not dealing here with a religion, rather with an organisation that has completely different motives. [...] Scientology is about power, business, and building up a network.

Sounds like a religion to us, Volker. Good luck with your film, though!

(Hat tip The Freethinker)

In its editorial, Dagens Nyheter said,

A threat against him is, in the end, a threat against all Swedish people.

Expressen made similar noises:

[...[ to defend freedom of expression which is more and more threatened".

An open society must show that it will not give in to threats, that it is ready to fight for freedom of expression.

Meanwhile, Vilks himself remains as composed as ever.

I’m not shaking with fear, exactly.

UPDATE: (12 March) A Vilks Modog has also been shown on Swedish TV channel STV.

Click here to view the embedded video.

ADAM “Nergal” Darski, the frontman of Behemoth, has fallen victim to a Polish law which forbids the destruction of religious icons. At least two complaints must be made for a prosecution to proceed. The incident occurred in 2007, prompting one complaint. Now it seems that Nergal has been the subject of a recent campaign by the national Polish conservative party to prosecute him, and a second wave of complaints has resulted in a formal charge.

He could now face two years in prison.

Behometh bassist Tomasz “Orion” Wroblewski, explained:

The incident was by no means a spontaneous outburst, we’d been doing that for two years on tour before it happened in Poland. A Behemoth show is a Behemoth show, so the fans are aware of what to expect

(Hat tip, The Freethinker)

Here Proffit! One of Vilks' roundabout dogs

Vilks had a $100,000 bounty put on his head in 2007 by mythical al-Qaida leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. An extra 50% was offered if he was “slaughtered like a pig” by having his throat cut.

According to The Independent report, some of the seven are Muslim converts.

The BBC, with impeccable impartiality, points out that it is only media reports which state that the arrested are Muslims

though a police statement did not confirm this.

Well, it’s true – they could be Mormons. Or dog lovers.

UPDATE: (14 March) Four have been released.

Sanderson reveals that Taylor approached the NSS with the cartoons with a view to publicising his case. He is, apparently, a “difficult man to deal with.”

While we have every sympathy with him, we cannot say that he has innocently become ensnared by this law. He set out to deliberately challenge it. We would like to support him in some way, but, as I say, this doesn’t seem to be what he wants.

We will do our best to ensure that his case has the highest public profile we can manage, but our main energies have to be aimed at changing the law.

Hats off to Toon Leaver Taylor, a man willing to go to jail for his principles.

(Thanks to Stonyground in the comments)

In a letter printed in Saturday’s paper, they say:

The settlement gives the impression that we regret our journalism, something for which there is no basis for whatsoever.

As it turns out, the Saudi law firm which claimed to be acting on behalf of 94,000 descendants of Mo are actually just a father and acting on their own. As Berlingske reports:

The lawyer wrote that he’s working for thousands of Mohmmad’s descendants, who feel insulted by the papers reprinting the cartoons, and that they asked him to turn to the papers and ask for an apology.

As it turns out, Faisal A Z Yamani and his wealthy father Zaki Yamani, took the initiative on their own. In April 2008 they wrote on an Arab chat-forum that they will sue for themselves, so that the editors will be punished.

The revelation that Faisal Yamani is a con artist prompted Conservative integration spokesperson Naser Khader to demand that Politiken’s chief editor make yet another apology:

The reality is that it’s this family’s own initiative to raise their profile. I actually think that Tøger Seidenfaden should officially apologize to the Danes for his naivety.

As well as lying about who he was representing, the tricky Mr Yamani has also put a dishonest spin on the nature of the apology in a press release, making it look like Politiken had conceded a lot more than they actually did:

We thank God for our success in reaching a settlement with the Danish Newspaper which has recognized its mistake, apologized, and indicated not to reoffend Muslims and their Prophet (peace be upon him).

In fact, Politiken were quite explicit in insisting that they retain the right to reprint the cartoon. So it is hard to figure out what Yamani means when he says they “indicated not to reoffend Muslims and their Prophet”.

To sum up: a Danish newspaper was conned into making a cringing non-apology by a dodgy law firm who subsequently misrepresented the apology as something much bigger than it actually was.

And all because of a cartoon:

(Hat tip Islam in Europe and The Comics Reporter)

With classically Orwellian reasoning, the SU decided five days before the event that the show must not go on because it contravened the university’s “freedom of expression” policy.

The Atheist Soc are in talks with the Union in an attempt to make them see reason.

Good luck with that.