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Algeria: Man gets 10 years prison for ‘inciting atheism’ and ‘offending Islam’
OCT 14, 2020 4:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER3 COMMENTS
He got this draconian sentence largely because “police found an old and faded copy of the Koran with one of its pages ripped – something considered as an attack against Islam.”
Will defenders of human rights in the West speak out against this manifest injustice? Or would that be “Islamophobic”?
“Algeria hands activist Yacine Mebarki 10 years jail for ‘inciting atheism’: NGO,” AFP, October 8, 2020:
An Algerian court on Thursday handed a key member of the Hirak anti-government protest movement a 10-year prison sentence for “inciting atheism”, a rights group said.
Yacine Mebarki was also found guilty of “offending Islam” and fined 10 million dinars ($77,400), Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian Human Rights League.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Salhi said he was “shocked by such a heavy verdict against a citizen who only expressed his opinion online.”
The sentence was the longest given to a member of the Hirak, the popular anti-government movement that led demonstrations that pushed president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power last year.
At the start of the trial, the prosecution demanded Mebarki be jailed for eight years.
But in a rare move, the judge at the Khenchela court in eastern Algeria decided to add two more years to that term.
Mebarki denied any wrongdoing and would appeal, Salhi said.
The 52-year-old activist had been arrested on September 30 during a raid at his home.
According to a friend, the police found an old and faded copy of the Koran with one of its pages ripped – something considered as an attack against Islam.
Salhi said Mebarki had been convicted of inciting atheism and “offending Islam” as well as inciting discrimination and hatred….
OCT 14, 2020 4:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER3 COMMENTS
He got this draconian sentence largely because “police found an old and faded copy of the Koran with one of its pages ripped – something considered as an attack against Islam.”
Will defenders of human rights in the West speak out against this manifest injustice? Or would that be “Islamophobic”?
“Algeria hands activist Yacine Mebarki 10 years jail for ‘inciting atheism’: NGO,” AFP, October 8, 2020:
An Algerian court on Thursday handed a key member of the Hirak anti-government protest movement a 10-year prison sentence for “inciting atheism”, a rights group said.
Yacine Mebarki was also found guilty of “offending Islam” and fined 10 million dinars ($77,400), Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian Human Rights League.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Salhi said he was “shocked by such a heavy verdict against a citizen who only expressed his opinion online.”
The sentence was the longest given to a member of the Hirak, the popular anti-government movement that led demonstrations that pushed president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power last year.
At the start of the trial, the prosecution demanded Mebarki be jailed for eight years.
But in a rare move, the judge at the Khenchela court in eastern Algeria decided to add two more years to that term.
Mebarki denied any wrongdoing and would appeal, Salhi said.
The 52-year-old activist had been arrested on September 30 during a raid at his home.
According to a friend, the police found an old and faded copy of the Koran with one of its pages ripped – something considered as an attack against Islam.
Salhi said Mebarki had been convicted of inciting atheism and “offending Islam” as well as inciting discrimination and hatred….
