That is what Hamza Kashgari, a 23 years old reporter and poet from Saudi Arabia, is realizing the hard way. He used twitter to write a poetic "dialogue" with prophet Muhammad, and this was enough to get him condemned to death by the salafi sheikhs. Hamza tried to escape, but was arrested in Malaysia. He now risks beheading for his words.
I am both disgusted by the fact that still, in the 21st century, somebody can decide on your life or death because of what you say and write, and relieved that I was born in a place where these things do not happen. And I am brought to smile at my own occasional troubles with the things I write in this blog - which is not read by salafits, but by colleagues who still may be unhappy about my self-given freedom of speech (I should add that in some cases they are right and I am wrong, but let's abandon the topic).
I guess the memo is that we should always cherish and hold dear our freedom of speech, because it is not god-given (as Kashgari's case shows). Should he have self-censored his tweets ? In retrospect, he would have certainly been well advised to do so. But that means one has already lost the fight.
Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones, But Words Will Really Put You In Trouble
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