Student is given three-year jail sentence for declaring himself an atheist on Facebook in Egypt

Student is given three-year jail sentence for declaring himself an atheist on Facebook in Egypt after his FATHER testified against his 'extremist views against Islam'


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2905453/Egypt-student-gets-3-year-jail-term-atheism.html

- Karim al-Banna, 22, was arrested in November for 'contempt of Islam'
- Family invited him to a cafe and then secretly called police, his lawyer said
- Jailed for three years on Saturday after his own father testified against him
- Rise in 'contempt of religion' cases since overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood

An Egyptian court has sentenced a student to three years in jail for 'contempt of Islam' after he admitted being an atheist on Facebook.

Karim al-Banna, a 22-year-old engineering undergraduate, was arrested in November in the Nile delta city of Idku and jailed on Saturday.

It follows a crackdown by the military government on 'immoral behaviour'.

Mr Banna's neighbours read the Facebook post and invited him to talk about it at a café, where they secretly called the police, according to Fatma Serag, a lawyer with the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression which is representing the student.

Another lawyer Abdel Nabi said his client's father testified against his son during the trial as he 'was embracing extremist ideas against Islam'.

Atheism is not illegal but Mr Banna was found guilty of insulting the Muslim faith under the Egyptian penal code which criminalises defamation of the three recognised religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

There has been an increase in 'contempt of religion' cases since the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsi were overthrown.

In December 2012, 27-year-old blogger Alber Saber was sentenced to three years in jail on charges of blasphemy.

And last June, a Coptic Christian man was sentenced to six years in jail for insulting Islam.

Fatma Naoot, a writer, is standing trial after allegedly criticising the traditional slaughter of sheep during the Muslim holiday of Eid, while the poet Karim Saber was jailed last year for his short story collection entitled Where is God.

The military-backed authorities have stepped up measures to prove they are more Islamic than the previous regime they brought down during the Arab Spring.

 

What I find most amazing in this is that his own father testified against him, and believes that being an atheist = harboring "extremist views against Islam".

Unfortunately, apparently this is not an isolated case. Saw a related news article about the Cairo police raiding an "atheist cafe" for harboring "Satan worshipers",,,,,, seems like they don't have a very good understanding of what being an atheist means.

Also according to a 2010 PEW Research poll, apparently 84% of Egyptian Muslims (basically the entire population) are in favor of the death penalty for people that leave the Muslim religion. Similar % were found in Jordan and Pakistan as well.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/