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Reporters Without Borders condemns Turkish-Armenian writer's blasphemy sentence
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/05/24/reporters-without-borders-condemns-turkish-armenian-writers-blasphemy-sentence/
10:40 24.05.2013
Reporters Without Borders has strongly condemned the sentence of 13
and a half months in prison that an Istanbul magistrate's court passed
on Turkish-Armenian journalist Sevan Nisanyan for posting `insulting'
comments about Mohammed in his blog.
`Nisanyan's jail sentence is a grave violation of freedom of
information and sends a threatening message to fellow journalists and
bloggers that is unacceptable,' Reporters Without Borders said. `It
should be overturned on appeal. Suppression of comments critical of
Islam has no place in a secular country such as Turkey.'
`We have often hailed the gradual weakening of Turkey's Kemalist -
secularist, nationalist and militarist - taboos but democracy will not
benefit if they are replaced by a new religious censorship.'
Reporters Without Borders added: `We urge legislators to repeal
article 216-3 of the criminal code, a draconian provision that is the
basis for a growing number of prosecutions.'
Nisanyan was convicted under article 216 of `denigrating the religious
beliefs held by a section of the society' in a blog entry posted on 29
September 2012 that prompted 15 different complaints.
The court said the sentence could not be suspended because Nisanyan
had a previous conviction. If upheld on appeal and by the Court of
Cassation, he will have to serve the sentence.
Nisanyan's blog entry said hate crimes must always be combatted
whether they target Muslims or other groups but he argued that the
controversial anti-Islamic video `Innocence of Muslims'did not
constitute a hate crime.
`Making fun of an Arab leader who claimed he contacted Allah hundreds
of years ago and received political, financial and sexual benefits is
not hate speech,' Nisanyan wrote. `It is an almost kindergarten-level
test of what is called freedom of expression.'
He added further down in the post: `You also have to wonder why these
friends who used to be so quick to denounce hate crimes against
minorities and other ethnic groups in our country no longer manage to
be consistent when it comes to reacting to defend Islam and Muslims.'
Article 216-3 of the criminal code, which prohibits `openly
denigrating the religious beliefs held by a section of the society,'
was included in a legislative reform adopted in 2005. Any violation
deemed `sufficient to endanger public peace' is punishable by six
months to a year in prison.
It was under this article that the pianist Fazil Say was given a
suspended 10-month jail sentencelast month. It was later canceled.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/05/24/reporters-without-borders-condemns-turkish-armenian-writers-blasphemy-sentence/
10:40 24.05.2013
Reporters Without Borders has strongly condemned the sentence of 13
and a half months in prison that an Istanbul magistrate's court passed
on Turkish-Armenian journalist Sevan Nisanyan for posting `insulting'
comments about Mohammed in his blog.
`Nisanyan's jail sentence is a grave violation of freedom of
information and sends a threatening message to fellow journalists and
bloggers that is unacceptable,' Reporters Without Borders said. `It
should be overturned on appeal. Suppression of comments critical of
Islam has no place in a secular country such as Turkey.'
`We have often hailed the gradual weakening of Turkey's Kemalist -
secularist, nationalist and militarist - taboos but democracy will not
benefit if they are replaced by a new religious censorship.'
Reporters Without Borders added: `We urge legislators to repeal
article 216-3 of the criminal code, a draconian provision that is the
basis for a growing number of prosecutions.'
Nisanyan was convicted under article 216 of `denigrating the religious
beliefs held by a section of the society' in a blog entry posted on 29
September 2012 that prompted 15 different complaints.
The court said the sentence could not be suspended because Nisanyan
had a previous conviction. If upheld on appeal and by the Court of
Cassation, he will have to serve the sentence.
Nisanyan's blog entry said hate crimes must always be combatted
whether they target Muslims or other groups but he argued that the
controversial anti-Islamic video `Innocence of Muslims'did not
constitute a hate crime.
`Making fun of an Arab leader who claimed he contacted Allah hundreds
of years ago and received political, financial and sexual benefits is
not hate speech,' Nisanyan wrote. `It is an almost kindergarten-level
test of what is called freedom of expression.'
He added further down in the post: `You also have to wonder why these
friends who used to be so quick to denounce hate crimes against
minorities and other ethnic groups in our country no longer manage to
be consistent when it comes to reacting to defend Islam and Muslims.'
Article 216-3 of the criminal code, which prohibits `openly
denigrating the religious beliefs held by a section of the society,'
was included in a legislative reform adopted in 2005. Any violation
deemed `sufficient to endanger public peace' is punishable by six
months to a year in prison.
It was under this article that the pianist Fazil Say was given a
suspended 10-month jail sentencelast month. It was later canceled.
From: A. Papazian