A British-Iranian
woman, Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht, has spent the last five months in Tehran’s
notorious Evin Prison for writing on Facebook that Iran’s government was “too
Islamic.” Arrested during a visit to Iran to visit family members, she has been
charged with “insulting Islamic sanctities.” British authorities are indignant
about this affront to the freedom of speech – but given the prevailing
eagerness to avoid insulting Islamic sanctities in the U.S. as well as Britain,
it is hard to see why. Nobakht’s husband, Daryoush Taghipoor is
worried: “It’s a very bad situation. We don’t know what’s going on. Roya is not
well at all. She has lost three stone and is frightened. She is scared that the
government will kill her.”…… Yet
the odd thing about this story is that while Amnesty International and the
British government are offended that Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht could be
executed in Iran for “insulting Islamic sanctities,” in Britain (and America as
well) it is a de facto crime to insult Islamic sanctities.… But
if freedom of expression must be upheld in Iran, then why not in Britain as
well? One hopes that the British government will soon recover its sanity and
defend the freedom of expression everywhere, even at home – and even if
“Islamic sanctities” are thereby offended....…To Read More…..
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