The detention of a Russian blogger from Yekaterinburg who has been sentenced to administrative arrest for two months after posting a video of himself playing Pokémon Go in a church is a farcical attack on freedom of expression, says Amnesty International.
Religious fidelity and free speech can learn the art of coexistence despite the acerbic challenges that have flowed from the terrible Paris shootings and the arguments about Charlie Hebdo magazine, says Ekklesia associate and Middle East analyst Dr Harry Hagopian. The much harder – and harsher – question is whether we as followers of a religion or as advocates of free speech can coexist too?
A new briefing from Amnesty says the Indonesian authorities increasingly make use of a range of oppressive blasphemy laws to imprison individuals for their beliefs.
The World Council of Churches is deeply concerned about the rejection of an appeal against the blasphemy death sentence for Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi.
Lawyers acting for Mohammed Asghar, a British man suffering from severe mental illness, have appealed against his death sentence for blasphemy at Pakistan’s High Court.
Lawyers for Mohammed Asghar, a British man with severe mental health problems sentenced to death in Pakistan on blasphemy charges, finally gained access to their client yesterday (28 January).
The Government must urgently act to protect an elderly, British man with severe mental health problems sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, says Reprieve.