Thursday, March 5, 2015
“Be Careful With Mohammed”: Muslim Action Forum launches “legal strategy” to stop publication of insults to Mohammed
Posted: Tue, 03 Mar 2015 16:50
The Muslim Action Forum (MAF), which staged a protest outside Downing Street against Charlie Hebdo in February, has launched a "legal strategy" to stop insults against Mohammed.
The organisation is also asking supporters to "lobby your MP" to make "Islamophobia" a criminal offence.
They
state that they intend "to launch a series of legal challenges in the
English Court system" because "depictions of our Holy Prophet peace be
upon Him is the worst kind of 'Hate Crime' that can be perpetrated on
the 3 million Muslims in the UK and 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide."
The
group says that they have "devised a legal strategy to prevent the
continuous insulting and derogatory publications depicting and abusing
the personality of our Holy Prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him."
In
a press release published shortly after the demonstration in February
2015, the MAF set out details of their plan to outlaw depicting Mohammed
in the UK, through "amendment of some existing legislation and the
presentation of a Private Members Bill that promotes the idea of Global
Civility."
They describe "Global Civility" as a "new
direction" and argue that the "desecration" of "collective human
dignity", through "insult, denigration or humiliation is morally and
ethically wrong". Their website rails against "reckless and malicious
expressions".
They urge the 100,000 Muslims who they
claim signed their petition to lobby their MPs and all candidates
standing in the General Election. The MAF makes a number of suggestions
including three specific questions which they ask supporters to direct
to their MPs.
The MAF suggests that petitioners ask
their MPs if they think the "the Public Order Act 1986 should be amended
to include under 'hate crime' any malicious depiction of images and use
of malevolent language against revered personalities of all religions?"
They also suggest asking if "Islamophobia should be a culpable offence?"
The
suggestions include a point inquiring if MPs would support a "Bill of
Rights" that promotes "Global Civility", a concept which would prevent
insulting religion.
The appeal says that if the MP
answers no to any of the points above, their answer "will clarify to the
local Muslim community where their political representatives stand on
the single most important issue to every Muslim in this country and
worldwide."
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society
campaigns manager, said: "We trust all prospective MPs will appreciate
that there is no homogeneous 'Muslim community' and reject such
unreasonable demands to undermine everybody's fundamental rights and
freedoms. Free speech is the bedrock of liberty and a free society – and
integral to combating the spectre of Islamism. Now more than ever we
need to preserve and strengthen freedom of expression, not capitulate to
extremist demands."
The Muslim Action Forum (MAF)
explain that their campaign against satirical depictions of Mohammed,
and what they call "uncivilised expressionists", took its "first
historical step by presenting a petition supported by over 100,000
signatures of Muslims promoting the concept of Global Civility and
condemning the continuous publication of these insulting cartoons in
France and other parts of the world."
The MAF website has a section devoted to the concept of "uncivilised expressionists", and they cite examples including the Satanic Verses, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten
and the burning of the Quran. They define uncivilised expressions as a
"a psychological disposition of the human mind which insults and maligns
others without care or consideration of consequences." They call this
"behaviour against Muslims".
The full press release on the Muslim Action Forum's legal strategy can be found here.
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