Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare were hanged for insulting the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH), burning a copy of the Quran and promoting atheism.
Tehran: Two men were executed by the Iranian authorities on Monday on charges of blasphemy against Islam.
According to Mizan News Agency, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare were hanged for insulting the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH), burning a copy of the Quran and promoting atheism.
Criticizing Islam can get you killed in Iran. Today 2 Iranian men have been executed for the crime of “insulting Quran and the Prophet, apostasy”. Islamic Republic is ISIS but with oil and that is why the West is still legitimizing this barbaric regime. Otherwise the executions… pic.twitter.com/Kqq1EJI3TI
As per Iranian media reports, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare were arrested in May 2020 for running several anti-religious online platforms.
In March 2021 one of the defendants had confessed to posting the content. Such confessions are believed to have been coerced, according to rights groups based outside of Iran.
Monday’s executions were the latest in a series of executions in the past two weeks for a range of crimes.
Amnesty International said that Iran executes more people annually than any other country in the world except China.
So far this year, at least 203 prisoners have been executed in the country, according to the non-profit Iranian Human Rights Organization.
Two rights groups said in a report last month that Iranian authorities executed 582 individuals last year, a 75 per cent increase from 2021.
Mumbai: Opposing the bail application of an accused veterinary doctor in the 2022 murder of Amravati-based pharmacist Umesh Kolhe, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday claimed that he was the “main abettor and initiator” of the crime.
Yusuf Khan, the accused, was the one who took a screenshot of Kolhe’s message supporting suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma and instigated others to target him, the agency told a special NIA court here in a written reply to the bail plea.
Kolhe, who had shared social media posts backing Sharma over the latter’s controversial comments about Prophet Mohammad, was killed in eastern Maharashtra’s Amaravati city on June 21, 2022.
As per the probe agency, which has arrested more than ten persons in the case, the accused were seeking to avenge the “insult” to the Prophet.
Khan, booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) besides Indian Penal Code sections related to murder, said in his bail application filed through advocate Shehzad Naqvi that he was not a “Tablihgh Jamat” member as claimed by the NIA. There was not an “iota of evidence” against him, he claimed.
The NIA, in its response, submitted that he was directly involved in the conspiracy and commission of offenses.
“The applicant is the main abettor and initiator of this whole case,” and the only Muslim member of the ‘Black Freedom’ WhatsApp group where Kolhe had shared a post supporting Nupur Sharma, it said.
Khan, who was angered by Kolhe’s message, took a screenshot of it and forwarded it with instigating text to ‘Kalim Ibrahim’ WhatsApp group in which co-accused Irfan Khan was admin and active member, the NIA said.
Yusuf Khan also forwarded the same to many other individuals, and also approached another co-accused Atib Rashid and instigated him to take revenge on Kolhe, the agency claimed.
“Within a week, owing to his abetment, it resulted in the murder of the victim,” the NIA added.
It also said that the accused was “making a poor and deliberate attempt to impress upon court that he is Sunni Muslim following the Barelvi sect and ideology of Tablighi Jamat is opposite to it.”
Rather, it was a “planned terrorist act” carried out by individuals belonging to Islam to avenge remarks of Nupur Sharma which were supported by Kolhe, the probe agency said.
The court will hear the bail application on March 24.(
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Riyadh: A specialized research team in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has located the historical Souq Habasha, one of the most important Arab markets in the pre-Islamic era and early Islam, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Souq Habasha was an ancient seasonal Arab market and one of the largest in the Tihamah region west of the Arabian Peninsula.
The Souq was held every year for eight days starting on the first day of Rajab in the Islamic calendar, and was annually held until the Islamic year 197 (813 A.D.).
Every year, thousands of traders and merchants flocked to Souq Habasha in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic era. Located on the southern bank of Wadi Qanun in the Makkah Province, this bustling market was a center of commercial activity, attracting merchants from all over the world. But it disappeared from the map for hundreds of years.
Efforts to trace the location of the market have been ongoing for more than 40 years, with “surveys of field sites proposed by the Commission as recently as last year.”
After several studies, the Habasha market was discovered in cooperation between the King Abdulaziz Department, the Ministry of Culture and the Heritage Authority.
Historians believe that the Prophet Muhammed also visited this place and this market is mentioned in the Sirah of the Prophet Muhammad (prophetic biography), that he taken part in the market to work before receiving the message.
Darah Foundation said through its Twitter account, “After conducting in-depth research, field and archaeological studies, in cooperation between the King Abdulaziz House, the Ministry of Culture and the Heritage Authority, a specialized research team was able to locate the historical Habasha market (one of the most important Arab markets in pre-Islamic times and early Islam). This is the story That work.”
The market represents aspects of economic, literary and cultural activity, integrated with the historical Okaz market, which has been revived and has become a prominent cultural event in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which can be used in the scientific, cultural and tourism fields.
شكرا لدارة الملك عبدالعزيز وهيئة التراث ووزارة الثقافة على هذا العمل والجهد الذي اثمر عن تحديد موقع سوق حباشة في منطقة #مكة المكرمة – محافظة #القنفذة – مركز خميس حرب https://t.co/Cn4ggMAlHz pic.twitter.com/hZ9uvltjRM
Police arrested four Bajrang Dal workers for shouting derogatory slogans against Prophet Muhammed. They have been granted bail by the sessions court.
The four Bajrang Dal men who were arrested on Thursday for raising derogatory slogans against Prophet Muhammed in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, were granted bail by a sessions court on Sunday.
The Bajrang Dal workers were protesting against the release of Shah Rukh Khan’s new movie ‘Pathaan’ on January 25 in front of a cinema hall.
They shouted provocative slogans like, “Mohammed tere baap ka naam ‘Jai..” and “Desh ke gaddaro ko…“.
The news of the protest soon spread in the city irking many local Muslims who took to the streets opposing the slogans against the Prophet.
Four of them were arrested by the police under sections 295(A) (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153(A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 505 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered.
The leader of the Danish far-right Hard Line party, Rasmus Paludan, on Friday burned a copy of the Holy Quran in front of a mosque and Turkish embassy in the Denmark capital, Copenhagen, under police protection.
Paludan, who also holds Swedish citizenship, burned the copy of Quran in front of a mosque belonging to the “Islamic Community Association” after the end of Friday prayers in the Dorthevig neighborhood, for the second time in a week.
🔴 SON DAKİKA: Rasmus Paludan, Danimarka’da cuma namazı vakti bir caminin karşısında polis eşliğinde Kur’an yaktı. Cami hoparlöründen Paludan’a karşılık olarak tekbir getirildi. pic.twitter.com/V3yPJkgeRX
As per a report by Anadolu Agency, Paludan tried to provoke the Muslims leaving the “Friday prayer” by insulting the Prophet Muhammad, but the worshippers acted calmly and moved away from the place.
The police took strict security measures in the vicinity of the mosque, and closed the street to traffic.
Those in charge of the mosque raised the takbeers with loudspeakers.
Paludan left the area, escorted by the police, after staying there for about 40 minutes.
Shortly after he burned the copy of Quran in front of a mosque, Paludan burned a copy of the Holy Quran again in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen, for the third time in a week.
🔴 SON DAKİKA: Rasmus Paludan, cami önündeki saldırıdan sonra Danimarka’nın Türkiye Büyükelçiliği önünde de Kur’an yakma girişiminde bulundu. Elçilik binası Mehter marşı ile karşılık verdi. pic.twitter.com/cSVA7Xwg5L
On Thursday, Paludan on Instagram announced that he would burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of a mosque in Denmark and near the Turkish and Russian embassies, and that the authorities allowed him to do so.
Ankara condemns
The Turkish Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Danish authorities’ permission to burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish embassy and opposite a mosque in Copenhagen, under police protection.
“We condemn in the strongest terms allowing the hate crime committed against our holy book, the Holy Quran, to be repeated in Sweden again today in the Danish city of Copenhagen by the same anti-Islam charlatan,” the ministry said in a statement.
It pointed out that the failure to prevent this “despicable act” that was committed in Denmark this time after Sweden and the Netherlands, despite all Turkey’s warnings, is cause for concern in terms of “exposing the dangerous dimensions that religious intolerance and hatred have reached in Europe by exploiting the so-called atmosphere of freedom.”
Heinous attacks on our religion Islam & our Holy Book Quran can never cast a shadow on their sanctity. These hate crimes degrade those who commit or allow them.
Seeds of hatred you sow will eventually poison your societies.
On Saturday, January 21, Paludan burned a Quran near the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, under strict police protection, which prevented anyone from approaching him while he was committing this act.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden could no longer count on Turkey’s “support” in its NATO membership file.
Paludan, a lawyer, founded far-right parties in Sweden and Denmark that failed to win any seats in national, regional or municipal elections. In the parliamentary elections, which took place last year in Sweden, his party got only 156 votes nationwide.
On a large scale, this abuse caused an uproar in the Arab world, and Turkey considered it a “provocative act” of “hate crimes,” and canceled a visit by Swedish Defense Minister Pal Johnson to Ankara.
This was followed by a similar incident when Dutch politician Edwin Wagensfeld, head of the far-right PEGIDA party, tore pages from a Bible before setting it on fire.
