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HRW: ‘Insulting’ Religion Bill Threatens
Free Speech in Iraqi Kurdistan
23.6.2012 |
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June 23, 2012
ERBIL-Hewlêr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — Members of Parliament in
the Kurdistan Regional Government should oppose the
Draft Law to Protect Sanctities because it clearly
restricts the right to free expression, Human Rights
Watch said Friday. The draft bill prescribes up to
10 years in prison and closing a publication for
vaguely worded offenses such as “portraying the
prophets inappropriately.”
In mid-May 2012, parliamentary officials announced
that members of parliament had drafted the bill, and
planned to present it for a vote “soon.” The
announcement came after Chrpa (Whisper), an
Erbil-based magazine, reprinted a Facebook posting
that government officials characterized as “insults
to the religion of Islam.” Police arrested the
magazine’s editor on May 7 and a demonstration
against the magazine gathered in Erbil on May 8.
“This bill flies in the face of the Kurdistan
Regional Government’s carefully cultivated image of
a political authority that respects civil
liberties,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East
director at Human Rights Watch. “International law
protects speech that others might find offensive so
long as it does not openly threaten violence.”
The draft law criminalizes “swearing at and mocking
God” and “swearing at, mocking, insulting and
portraying prophets inappropriately.” In addition to
violating free expression rights, such broad wording
is an invitation to arbitrary arrest and
enforcement, Human Rights Watch said.
Under the bill, people found guilty of such offenses
can face up to 10 years in prison and fines ranging
from 10,000,000 Iraqi dinars (US$ 8,500) to
50,000,000 dinars (US$42,600). The bill would
authorize officials to shut down for up to a year
any media outlet that printed or otherwise
disseminated prohibited statements as well as to
impose fines in this range.
On May 2, Chirpa reprinted a 2010 Facebook post by
Halmat Goran, a Kurdish resident of Norway, entitled
“Me and God,” an imaginary discussion with God that
included profanity. Police arrested Hemn Ari,
Chrpa’s editor-in-chief, on May 7. A May 14
statement by the Erbil branch of the Kurdistan
Journalists Syndicate expressed concern that Ari’s
arrest had been carried out under Iraq’s penal code,
not the press law passed by the regional government
in 2007, which governs media matters without closing
down publications.
Local media reported that the demonstrations in
Erbil against the magazine on the following day
caused damage to nearby bars, a TV station, and a
cultural center,www.ekurd.net
and led to several arrests. Dozens of people were
injured, the reports said, including eight
policemen.
In the days that followed, the Kurdistan Regional
Government’s prime minister, Nechirvan Barzani, and
other officials criticized the article. According to
media reports, Barzani said the government “will
confront all insults against the religion of Islam
strongly.” The deputy editor and staff of Chrpa then
volunteered to close the magazine office, and Ari,
the editor, was released on May 14.
On May 11, the chair of the regional parliament’s
Committee for Religious Endowments and Religious
Affairs, Bashir Khalil Haddad, announced the
completion of the Draft Law to Protect Sanctities in
the Kurdistan Region and said the committee would
soon bring it before parliament. Several
nongovernmental organizations, politicians, and
independent newspapers have spoken out against the
bill.
Aram Qadir, head of the Kurdistan Islamic Group in
parliament and a supporter of the bill, told Human
Rights Watch that it “would not place Islam over
other faiths, because it applies to other religions,
too.” He also claimed that the bill “would not
restrict speech questioning or even critical of
religions and religious books, but only insults
against them.”
The draft bill, which Human Rights Watch has
reviewed, contains no criteria for distinguishing
between permitted speech and speech that is
“insulting,” “mocking,” or “swearing at” religious
subjects, nor does it contain legal justifications
for criminalizing any of them. Under international
human rights law, a government may only ban limited
types of speech such as that which immediately and
directly incites violence. A government may not
impose criminal sanctions for expressing thoughts or
opinions merely because others, including government
officials, deem them offensive
The International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) permits a government to restrict the
right to freedom of expression to protect public
morals only if the restriction conforms to strict
tests of necessity and proportionality and is
non-discriminatory, including on the grounds of
religion or belief. The Human Rights Committee,
which provides the definitive interpretation of the
covenant, has stated that, “Prohibitions of displays
of lack of respect for a religion or other belief
system, including blasphemy laws, are incompatible
with the covenant,” except in strictly limited
circumstances such as direct incitement to violence.
“The combination of harsh prison sentences, fines,
and media shutdowns for ill-defined offenses such as
‘insulting’ and ‘mocking’ is unmistakably chilling,”
Stork said.
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