Feminist activist sent to prison for ‘Allah is lesbian’ T-shirt - Morocco

[IwantToRetire]

A feminist activist has been sent to prison for two-and-a-half years because of messages on a T-shirt she wore in a selfie posted online.

The shirt featured the word “Allah” in Arabic, followed by the words “is lesbian” in English.

Ibtissam Lachgar was charged with blasphemy and with disseminating the image online.

She was found guilty of violating part of Morocco’s criminal code that outlaws offending the monarchy or Islam, her lawyer, Naïma El Guellaf, said.

A member of Ms Lachgar’s legal team said they plan to appeal the conviction.

Article continues at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/morocco-islam-prison-ibtissam-lachgar-b2819995.html

But to certain religions it definitely will be offensive,and cause hurt and upset .
Again ,why ,do we need to hurt and upset each other

Because in order to avoid offending certain groups I am expected to give up my rights, my safety, my ability to practise my own beliefs….

I don't really understand why you think she has done a good thing .
If she lives there ,she would of known this would happen.
I believe free speech is important..but some things ,you just know they are going to cause huge offence ..or worse .
I know what I want to say ,but that would cause offence...some things you can't change
Didn't a man get be headed for something he wrote about religion in France

If you believe in gendered behaviours then how are you being critical of the concept of gender?

Well she was playing stupid games for stupid prizes there.
Hardly a surprise she is where she is, not like it was a great secret that might happen.

At least the pensioners holding signs against genocide while getting arrested are trying to help other people and draw attention to something our media is trying to hide and govt trying to ignore.

Because she wants to change her country. That is the point of protest.

You clearly do not believe in free speech.

She's lucky she's only in prison
Again I can't say what I want ,as it will get taken the wrong way .
I feel sorry for her
But she can't change much from inside prison
Some things you can't change ,it goes to deep ,it's better to walk away

Thank goodness some people don't knuckle under like you. Or we practically be living in a caliphate here, unable to criticise Islam at all.

To be clear, I don't think Islam is necessarily bad. But this 'don't insult Muhammad or I'll kill you' certainly is.

Do you think Salman Rushdie should have not written the Satanic Verses bc of the danger it put him in? I'm glad he was that brave.

That's funny
You not from the UK then ?

It’s not about whether it’s a good thing or not. I never found Charlie Hebdo particularly funny. However I don’t think they should be imprisoned or beheaded or murdered for drawing cartoons.

You can think this activists t-shirt is offensive and in bad taste whilst also thinking that the state has no right to persecute her for it.

For heavens' sake! She is an activist and native of Morocco, deliberately protesting. She knows the potential consequences as well as Nelson Mandela did when he protested apartheid. A very brave woman, esp as she's ill with cancer at the moment.

It's interesting you're defending the Palestine Action prptestors but not her. I am furious about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and v dubious about Netanyahu's government.

But I don't think it's genocide. It should definitely be protested, but Palestine Action are not the group to get involved with. There is credible evidence they have terrorist links.

Besides, free speech might not seem as urgent as the deaths of the starving, but the lack of free speech under the dictatorship of Hamas is partly what has led to the Gaza-Israel tragedy. It is completely essential to a free society, which in turn helps prevent injustice of all kinds.

But that's their country,that's their decision
Who are we to tell another country what's right or wrong
That's how wars start , getting involved in how other countries discipline their people.
Has that worked out well in any war the UK got involved in before.
No it's not right what is happening to her ..maybe she didn't go about ,what she wanted to achieve ,in the right way

If you have such a negative view of Islam, as I correctly anticipated you would, why do you speak so unpleasantly about brave protestors like Ibtissam Lachgar? (Let's give her the dignity of a name from now)

People challenging blasphemy laws is a step forward.

I agree that Islam has some v negative effects. Otoh the Biblical God has moments too : ordering Abraham to kill his son for one, even if he takes it back later, and condoning Lot's daughters having sex w their drunken father bc it preserves the tribal line. And I say that as a Christian!

The problem is that Saudi-funded Salafism & Wahhabism have made Islam more extreme in the last 3 centuries, not less. There are many moderate Muslims, they must be brave & we must support them to reclaim their faith from the crazies.

The state has every right to persecute her for it and indeed were right to do so. Enforcing the laws of a state is essential to it's functioning whether you believe it to be right or not isn't relevant

We're not asking our gov to intervene, silly, we're just expressing our own support for Ibtissam Lachgar.

How should she have gone about it? She HAD to say something offensive enough to break the blasphemy laws. She knew that would lead to arrest, that's the whole point.

Just because I have a negative view of it doesn't mean I think people shouldn't be free to practice it in their own countries. Just keep it at bay in ours.

So you think Stalin was right to imprison protestors? And the South African government were right to imprison Mandela?

But don't you think it's good people are challenging these ludicrous and oppressive laws?

Very 'I'm all right Jack'

I think the defeat of Nazi Germany worked out rather better for the UK than the alternative.

You think we live in a caliphate in the UK?

I know there have been worrying restrictions, but we are still able to criticise Islam. You wouldn't go to prison for that T shirt here (you might get attacked by a zealot though)

I don't think we have far to go
Look at the two new appointees

Mandela was a terrorist, you think it's OK to go around blowing things up. There are people who thought the cause of the Manchester arena bomber was just, however blowing shit up isn't ever OK.

Youre not getting my point though. Whether you think it's right or wrong, laws are pointless without enforcement so yes, laws should always be enforced.

But you don’t think we should ever campaign or protest to change laws?

They are critical of the idea that gendered behaviour is the ultimate determiner of whether you are a woman or man. They believe it usually aligns but is not the ultimate determiner, biological sex is that.

I agree it's not a full gender critical position, and it's confusing and annoying to see radfems like Bindel or Bellos lumped in with Matt Walsh.