Saudi Conference Calls For Lawsuits
Against Those Who Abuse Islam

by Tony Pearce
Signs of the Times

(Received via email January 20, 2007)

The Muslim World League called for legal action against those who abuse Islam and its Prophet Muhammad and Islamic sanctities, at local and international courts of justice. The conference titled ‘In Defence of the Prophet’ called upon Islamic countries and governments to stand united to defend the Islamic faith and its Prophet. It denounced the smear campaigns to tarnish the image of the Prophet and urged Muslims to make all-out efforts to project the true picture of Islam and the great divine teachings of the Prophet. Its spokesman, Al-Turki called upon Western countries to protect human rights of Muslim communities and take action against those who
create unnecessary fear about Islam by linking it with terrorism and violence.

If applied internationally this would make it illegal to criticise Islam or its prophet, thus denying freedom of speech world wide. It would appear that the application of this in Europe is not as improbable as we might think. A French teacher, Robert Redeker wrote an article ‘Face aux intimidations islamistes, que doit faire le monde libre ?’ (In the face of intimidations by the Islamists what should the free world do?). This was published in the leading newspaper, Le Figaro in September 2006. Since then he and his family have secreted away on advice of the French government to a safe house for fear of death by fatwa.

Having been posted online, the article was read all across France and in other countries as well, and was quickly translated into Arabic. Denunciations of Redeker’s ‘insult of the prophet’ spread across the Internet. Within a day after publication, the piece was being condemned on al Jazeera by the popular on-air preacher (and unofficial voice of Osama bin Laden) Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi. In Egypt and Tunisia, the offending issue of Le Figaro was banned.

As for Redeker himself, he soon received a large number of threats by letter and e-mail. On an Islamist website, he was sentenced to death in a posting that, in order to facilitate a potential assassin’s task, also provided his address and a photograph of his home. Fearful for himself and his family, Redeker sought protection from the local police, who transferred the case to the national counter-espionage authorities. On their advice, Redeker, his wife, and three children fled their home and took shelter in a secret location. Since then, they have moved from city to city, at their own expense, under police protection.

Even more disturbing than this incident has been the reaction of the media and educational establishment in France. France’s two largest teachers’ unions, both of them socialist, stressed that ‘they did not share Redeker’s convictions.’ The leading leftist human-rights organizations went much farther, denouncing his ‘irresponsible declarations’ and ‘putrid ideas.’ A fellow high-school philosophy teacher, Pierre Tévanian, declared (on a Muslim website) that Redeker was ‘a racist’ who should be severely punished by his school’s administration. Among members of the media, Redeker was scolded for articulating his ideas so incautiously. On the radio channel
Europe 1, Jean-Pierre Elkabach invited the beleaguered teacher to express his ‘regret.’ The editorial board of Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, characterized Redeker’s piece as ‘excessive, misleading, and insulting.’ It went so far as to call his remarks about Muhammad ‘a blasphemy,’ implying that the founder of Islam must be treated even by non-Muslims in a non-Muslim country as an object not of investigation but of veneration.

So much for ‘liberté, égalité and fraternité.’ How much longer do we have for freedom of speech here in Britain as well? Notice that there has been no reporting of this incident in our press or TV.