Iran: Death sentence upheld for man who insulted Muhammad on Facebook

November 26, 2014 11:21 am By Robert Spencer 8 Comments

This kind of assault on the freedom of speech would never happen in the free West. If Soheil Arabi insulted Muhammad in the United States, he would just be rebuked for his “bigotry” and “intolerance,” and held up as an example of how racism is still pandemic in American society. There would be head-shaking articles in Salon and the Huffington Post about how “Islamophobia” was on the rise. He would be condemned as a neocon, Zionist agent of U.S. imperialism.

But we wouldn’t sentence him to death. We believe in the freedom of speech!

“Death Sentence Upheld For Iranian Internet Activist,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, November 25, 2014:

Iranian opposition websites are reporting that an appeal court in Iran has confirmed the death sentence for an Internet activist who allegedly insulted Prophet Muhammad.
Soheil Arabi was reportedly arrested last year by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps over his posts on Facebook, where he is said to have been active under different names.
Arabi’s wife, Nastaran Naeimi, has said that printouts of Arabi’s alleged Facebook posts are the only proof that authorities have provided against him.
She said her husband, a photographer by profession, had not personally written some of the posts which served as basis for his conviction.

In recent months, a number of Facebook activists have been sentenced to jail in Iran.