UN MASQUERADE

Religion Conference's Scary Agenda

From the New York Post:

... behind Abdullah's Kumbaya facade was a downright scary agenda: Essentially, he wants the world's moral blessing to restrict any and all speech about Islam, its adherents and regimes that promote them - except, of course, that which is approved by official censors. He also wants to throw the UN's moral weight behind punishments meted out to those who violate such restrictions, even if he doesn't say that explicitly.

Meanwhile, Abdullah failed to make even the slightest gesture toward softening his own regime's brutal intolerance of other religions and cultures. Some parley on "religious tolerance."

Consider one key draft resolution at the event. Introduced jointly by the Philippines and Pakistan, it openly seeks to limit press freedoms. Sure, as read by Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, the language pays lip service to the notion of freedom of expression.

But the document then goes on to emphasize the "special duties and responsibilities necessary for the respect of the rights or reputations of others, protection of national security or of public order, or of public health and morals."

Translation: Don't even think of publishing those Danish cartoons or anything even close to them. And forget about questioning authorities in places like, say, Riyadh.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a dominant UN voting bloc, plans an additional resolution, to be voted on tomorrow in the General Assembly, that would openly frown on any speech that is considered defamatory toward religion.

But it's not like the censors - and, specifically, their efforts to establish Islam as a dominant, superior religious and political force - need encouragement.

Last month, an appellate court in Afghanistan sentenced a student, Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, to 20 years in prison for distributing "blasphemous" material regarding the role of women in Islamic societies. Arrested a year earlier, Kambakhsh was accused of downloading material from the Internet and passing it to other students, according to a recent State Department report on international religious freedom.

Mohammad Shafeeq was cited in the same State Department report. He was sentenced to death in Pakistan in June for blasphemy after he allegedly defiled the Quran and used derogatory language to refer to the Prophet Mohammad. His arrest in 2006 was based on a complaint by local religious leaders.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is among the worst of the bunch. In May, the Saudi government charged a lawyer and businessman, Ra'if Bedawi al-Shammary, with "setting up an electronic site that insults Islam." The prosecution asked for a five-year prison sentence and an $800,000 fine.

What exactly did Shammary do? His online writings detailed abuses by the religious police and questioned the government's interpretation of Islam. As a result of the charges against him and several physical threats, Shammary and his family were forced to flee the country.