Kuwait Mulls Death Penalty For Insulting God, Prophet

KUWAIT, April 12 (Reuters) - Kuwaiti lawmakers voted in favour of a legal amendment on Thursday which could make insulting God and the Prophet Mohammad punishable by death, after a case of suspected blasphemy on Twitter caused an uproar in the Gulf Arab state.

Members of Parliament must vote on the proposal again in a second session and it would need the approval of the country's ruler before becoming law.

The amendment was backed by 46 votes, while four opposed it and others abstained. Those in favour included all 15 members of the cabinet.

Blasphemy is illegal in Kuwait under a 1961 publications law and at present carries a jail term, the length of which depends on the severity of the comments and their perceived effect on society, lawyers say.

Islamist MPs proposed toughening the law last month after authorities arrested a Kuwaiti man they said had defamed the Prophet, his companions and his wife on the Twitter messaging site.

The man, identified by his lawyer as Hamad al-Naqi, has told police his account was hacked and he did not post the comments. He is now in pre-trial detention.

Dozens of Sunni activists protested to condemn Naqi, who is from Kuwait's Shi'ite Muslim minority. Some members of parliament have called for him to be executed.

Shi'ite parliamentarians voted against the amendment on Thursday.

Several of Kuwait's main newspapers have run editorials condemning Naqi, while others have accused Sunni activists of over-reacting.

Kuwaiti MPs from across the political spectrum have voiced concern about sectarian tension. Shi'ites make up about 30 percent of Kuwait's 1 million native citizens.

Naqi's lawyer, Khaled al-Shatti, told Reuters on April 3 that if his client was found guilty of insulting the Prophet the penalty would be one year in jail. If he was also convicted of "sedition" - specifically inciting strife - the penalty would be a maximum of 10 years in jail.

Twitter is popular in Kuwait, where many politicians, journalists and other public figures use the micro-blogging site to debate current affairs and share gossip. (Reporting by Mahmoud Harbi, Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Sami Aboudi and Janet Lawrence)

Comments

[Jerry Bourbon]

03:14 PM on 05/15/2012

Let me eat another pulled pork sandwich and a beer while I contemplate this joke of a religion...

[DavidMMyles]

12:55 PM on 05/06/2012

I have no problem with mohammed, he's dead. He was a criminally insane psychotic uneducated fool as well. His followers are clearly mentally disabled though. Funny with christianity it's exactlty opposite.

[Feurio]

11:59 AM on 05/06/2012

How utterly weak, hot UTTERLY weak.

"An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from being laughed at." - Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899)

70% live without full religious freedom... this needs to fought.

[ceekreewd]

04:10 PM on 04/30/2012

I can't believe back in 1991, I fought to protect this crap....

[Anonisan]

02:44 PM on 05/24/2012

I'm with ya .

[Inannawhimsey]

07:32 PM on 04/25/2012

don't tell me, Kuwait is making blasphemous the death penalty, murder, violence, rape of animals and human beings, forcing people to live a state-sponsored lifestyle, not being given the rights to tear up their own property and belongings if they want to and being able to think and hold their own ideas?

[Steven Garthune]

01:01 PM on 04/19/2012

Are laws like this the product of a violent, rigid religion or deeper sociocultural conditions not necessarily concerning the Qu'ran?

[GotPC]

03:56 PM on 04/19/2012

"deeper sociocultural conditions" cannot extend across 57 OIC countries if the common denominator was not religion.

[loOranks]

06:00 PM on 04/25/2012

Nail. Head. Hit.

[outgrowingfear1]

07:39 AM on 04/17/2012

Unless we REALLY don't believe in the LAST DAY and JUDGEMENT. ..that allah will BURN them over and over for their IGNORANCE...giving them NEW skin so that they SUFFER for FOREVER. If I believed I wouldn't bother with what ANYONE says about my allah.PERIOD...end of ARGUMENTS.

[Lulu2]

12:45 AM on 04/17/2012

Interesting...since Muslims claim Islam to be "perfect," it's rather odd that it can't stand up to honest criticism, freedom of speech, freedom of artistic expression or someone leaving the faith.

[demsrsilly]

08:43 AM on 04/21/2012

Good point, Not sure why an omnipotent being needs human help.

[mustbelove]

06:46 PM on 04/16/2012

We need to have a global effort to forbid these kinds of laws. They aren't doing it for God or Muhammad, peace be upon him. Dictators are squeezing people into their narrow understanding of Islam. Muhammad typically was very lenient when insulted, telling others to be lenient, too. And when it is about offending God, that is for God alone to deal with. How can a mere human be so vain to think they can dole out punishments for insulting God?

Quran says (including Muhammad) no one but God is responsible for the religious beliefs of a person.

When a group of people overheard someone insulting the Prophet, a Muslim asked Muhammad if he could punch out the guy's teeth so he couldn't speak ill of the Prophet anymore. The Prophet exclaimed, "No! If I did, then Allah would do the same to me in Paradise. Leave him be."

And there is the sign (ayat/verse) in Quran which says: And the servants of the The Compassioate are they who walk on the earth in humbleness, and when the ignorant address them, they say: Peace. (Quran 25:63)

The death penalty is how extremists weed out those who challenge them. Nothing in Quran makes these punishments sensible. They are a gross violation of human rights, not a legitimate reason to punish someone.

Peace be with all humanity and all creation.

[ConfabulatingConMan]

09:49 AM on 04/17/2012

Thank you very much for your beautiful comments. You are a true muslim inded. :-)

[demsrsilly]

08:45 AM on 04/21/2012

Well said. Now if only the rest of the Muslim world listened to you.

[mustbelove]

11:01 AM on 04/21/2012

Many do believe what I believe. Insha'Ala, peace will prevail. I think the world needs to have soldiers of peace. They could spread peace with peace. It sounds naive perhaps, but every act of peace creates peace. And the more we focus on peace, the more we provide a better world for the next generation.

Peace be with you. Peace be with all creation.

[kunfayakun]

05:36 PM on 04/16/2012

You'll also notice that the only MPs (parliamentarians) in Kuwait who *opposed* this law were all Shias. Again, I encourage the readers of huffingtonpost to not jump to conclusions about islam or muslims. We are witness radical political changes in the middle east, and the Kuwaiti law is just another symptom of these political changes.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jFzepYDO_STSdxxRtSQPVaOBs1_Q?docId=CNG.370569ca78de7c929bbfb49125a5efa2.441

"Four Shiite MPs voted against the law, a pro-Shiite Sunni lawmaker abstained, while two MPs refused to vote. Shiite MPs have demanded that the new amendments also enforce the death penalty for anyone who curses their sect's 12 revered Imams, but the Sunni- dominated parliament rejected their requests."

[mustbelove]

06:55 PM on 04/16/2012

We need to have an organization created from the ummah which can speak out at times like this. We have some groups which challenge them, but we need to get more organized and create a large organization which would condemn these kinds of laws. Knowing that the Prophet, peace be upon him, typically responded to insults by ignoring them, how can Kuwait even begin to claim it is appropriate to kill ppl who insult him. It is innovation. And should someone insult God, then none of us has the power to know the proper punishment for that. That is for God to deal with and God alone.

May those who support these laws be brought back to the straight way. May Allah soften their hearts and bring into their behavior the forgiving ways of our Prophet. The Quran says God is the Merciful One. May Mercy prevail.

[kunfayakun]

08:25 PM on 04/16/2012

mustbelove,

Some muslims have gone crazy with their hysteria over alleged insults to the Qur'an and our prophet. These people say they love the prophet, but I don't even know if these people know *anything* about the prophet. The reaction from the Pakistani public to the guy who killed the governor of Punjab (who didn't even blaspheme, simply said that the blasphemy laws were outdated) tells you that we have a long way to go!

But again, these issues are not religious. No point in having religious arguments. These laws are political, 100% political. We have to understand them in political context or we risk misunderstanding the situation altogether. This law was create just to spite the Shias who are fighting against discrimination in Bahrain, Saudi and Kuwait. The only reason the "wives" clause was included was to allow Shias to be arrested.

Very few non-muslims are actually arrested for insults. It's mostly Shias, Ahmadis and other muslim sects that bear the brunt of these draconian laws.

[kunfayakun]

05:34 PM on 04/16/2012

The sad part is that Western commentators don't really want to understand how the middle east functions. Everything is black and white.

If you read the blasphemy law, you'll notice that it includes insults against (a) Allah (b) the prophet (pbuh), and (c) the prophet's wives. You can understand, (a) and (b), but why (c) you may wonder?

You see this (c) *is* the crux of the issue.

30% of Kuwait is Shia and the Shias are demanding greater political representation as they did in Bahrain recently and even in Saudi. The Sunni authorities around the Gulf states are starting to see the Shias as a fifth element.

Shias have historically taken an antagonistic approach to one of the prophet's wives, A'isha. In fact, some Shias consider her to be an enemy of Ali. History supports this to some extent. As a result, you'll often find Shias saying unpleasant things about A'isha. A'isha is considered a great Sunni scholar (which she was).

You see, at the end of the day, this has nothing to do with Islam. This is a political conflict, about Sunnis trying to suppress Shias. Islam is a convenient smoke screen for the Sunni majority to suppress a minority.

[Moe1]

01:06 AM on 04/17/2012

I don't think that's the reason. Although few months ago a kuwaiti shia schooler sparked at flare after he spoke horribly about Aisha (RAA) and called her a prostitute and cursed her over and over. It caused an outrage in the whole region. He flee the country.

Suppress Shia by asking them to not curse our beloved mother, the wife of the prophet?
What kind of belief that has in it to curse someone anyways. Can't you just ignore her and save your neck?
Everybody will be happy too, not to mention it's the least common decency to do.

[kunfayakun]

02:31 PM on 04/17/2012

Moe1,

I wouldn't encourage anyone to make fun of the prophet (pbuh) or his wives. If someone stupid Shia scholar insults A'isha, then it's his fault. But let's not forget that Shias and Sunnis do have different opinions on A'isha. We know the historical reasons behind this difference of opinion. Shias ought to have the freedom to share their views and opinions without insulting people. Just like Sunnis are allowed to say terrible things about Shias from time to time.

It's very easy for such blasphemy laws to clamp down on Shias. You know this as well as I do.

[outgrowingfear1]

05:29 PM on 04/16/2012

The MOST ridiculous REASON to TAKE a life. Even a CAVEMAN shouldn't and wouldn't contemplate this 'holy defense' . To let them know they are WRONG, if god is god then he should have KILLED them because we are told he can see or read our minds. If he's not doing it, WHY YOU???

[Kraptonfactor]

09:06 AM on 04/16/2012

Are these backward people ever going to evolve?

[GotPC]

04:11 PM on 04/16/2012

The only possible path available to them is devolving back to the 7th century.

[Kraptonfactor]

08:28 PM on 04/16/2012

As long as they don't expect the rest of civilisation to be dragged down with them.

[crydespite]

08:22 AM on 04/15/2012

God doesn't exist and all prophets are charlatans or self-deluded.

I guess I'd better not be going to Kuwait any time soon, then.

Or Kentucky.

[thorrsman]

08:29 PM on 04/15/2012

How terribly typical. Trying to equate those who believe in Christianity in modern America with the 7th century practices of Islam.

Sad, and more than a bit sick as well.

[crydespite]

08:51 PM on 04/15/2012

Spare us the outrage. Of course Kentucky is not yet Kuwait but if you really think it would be hard to find a Christian in the US who wouldn't agree at very least with incaceration for blasphemy, you aren't living in the same US. And just to list a few parallels -

parallel: having the death penaltyat all (not often you otherwise see the US and Yemen in the same table)

parallel: attacks on science (I invite you to compare Haroun Yahya of Turkey with Ken Ham of Kentucky)

parallel: restrictions of women's rights (and if you don't think the recent Republican war on women is real, listen to Murkowski)

[Kraptonfactor]

09:07 AM on 04/16/2012

You disrespect KFC and get stoned, crydespite?

[MajorKong]

10:17 PM on 04/14/2012

Nice people. Sure glad I almost got my butt shot off saving them from Saddam Hussein a few years back.

[ThinkCreeps]

04:24 PM on 04/15/2012

Ah well... at least you got to see the best side of it. It looked better under heavy smoke.

[MajorKong]

04:45 PM on 04/15/2012

Yeah, it looked bad down on the ground.

[Moe1]

09:22 PM on 04/15/2012

They are nice people, wether you agree with how they run their country or not.

Saving them? I guess over a Trillion doller and other benefits are more than you could dream of.
It's business. You did your job, you got paid, you bought some nice stuff.

Everybody is happy.

[Caernarvon]

05:24 PM on 04/16/2012

Respect for our troops: you're doing it wrong.