FREEDOM OF SPEECH / FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION


FREEDOM OF SPEECH / FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak without censorship and/or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used [United Nations, 1966, 1976]. The right to freedom of speech is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR recognizes the right to freedom of speech as "the right to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression". Furthermore freedom of speech is recognized in European, inter-American and African regional human rights law [United Nations, 1966, 1967]. Freedom of speech, or the freedom of expression, is recognized in international and regional human rights law. The right is enshrined in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights [Andrew Puddephatt & Hodder Arnold, 2005; Kumar, Ambika, 2006].

In Islamic ethics freedom of speech was first declared in the Rashidun period by the caliph Umar in the 7th century. In the Abbasid Caliphate period, freedom of speech was also declared by al-Hashimi (a cousin of Caliph al-Ma'mun) in a letter to one of the religious opponents he was attempting to convert through reason.

According to George Makdisi and Hugh Goddard, "the idea of academic freedom" in universities was "modelled on Islamic custom" as practiced in the medieval Madrasah system from the 9th century. Islamic influence was "certainly discernible in the foundation of the first deliberately-planned university" in Europe [Boisard, Marcel A., 1980].

* Selected REFERENCES / Sources:


Amnesty International: Annual Reports: URLhttp://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/index.html Andrew Puddephatt & Hodder Arnold. (2005). Freedom of Expression: The Essentials of Human Rights. United Publishers. Boisard, Marcel A. (July 1980), "On the Probable Influence of Islam on Western Public and International Law", International Journal of Middle East Studies 11 (4): 429–50. Goddard, Hugh. (2000). A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Kumar, Ambika. (2006). ‘Using Courts to Enforce the Free Speech Provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.’ Published by Chicago Journal of International Law. Summer 2006. URLhttp://www.allbusiness.com/corporate-governance/4082846-1.html United Nations: ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.’ Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16th December 1966: Entry into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 49. URLhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm (United Nations) Wikipedia. (2010). ‘Freedom of Speech.’ Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. URLhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_expression

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10 March 2011

Bomb Kills 37 at Pakistan Funeral !


Comment:

And one would have thought that the killings would end when a love one dies ...Don't CONFUSE with Islam? Its bl**dy ‘survival of the fittest’ out there in the desert (land) of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Libya, to name a few. The Syiah kills the Ahli Sunnah and vice-versa, the Taliban kills the pro-government and general public, in the hope to strike ‘fear’, but only end up striking ‘hate’. The government who vow to strike back on terror ‘lacks’ the resources - financial and military (due to resources place elsewhere, and possibly into their own pockets). What crabs!

IF a sincere survey is conducted, one would find that the locals have only minimal religious knowledge, that has somehow translates into a sort of ‘customary practises’, hence, IF you ask them ‘Why sir have you perform this and that? (or what is the philosophy behind doing this and that?)’, they would simply said, ‘Oh our fore-fathers have done them, so we are doing the same thing (no question about it).’ And that’s why, its not difficult to kill others out of hate, or leadership’s orders (because religious/Islam has already been translated or 'mixed-up' into local customary practises and believes.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/8981993/bomb-kills-37-at-pakistan-funeral/ (10th March 2011)

Bomb kills 37 at Pakistan Funeral
AFP March 10, 2011, 5:55 am

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A suicide bomber targeting members of an anti-Taliban militia at a funeral in northwestern Pakistan killed 37 people and wounded at least 45 others on Wednesday, police said.

Police and witnesses said the bomber had slipped into the congregation of more than 200 people attending funeral prayers for the WIFE of a known anti-Taliban militiaman in Adezai village, near Peshawar city. Television footage showed bearded elderly men wearing bloodstained clothes rushing from the scene in panic. Prayer caps and slippers lay alongside scattered body parts at the prayer site, which was spattered with blood.

"We have taken 37 dead bodies and 45 injured to the hospital," Kalam Khan, a senior police officer at the site, told AFP. The head of the main hospital in Peshawar city, Abdul Hameed Afridi, told AFP that 36 bodies had been received along with body parts, and warned that the death toll could rise, with several people critically injured.

Police officer Mohammad Ijaz Khan confirmed the bomber's target. "The target of the bombing was members of the anti-Taliban militia," Khan said. "We have sent teams to remove the bodies and shift the injured to the hospital," he added. Villagers brought wooden carts to transport the dead and wounded, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Adezai village is known for clashes between the Pakistani Taliban and pro-government militiamen, local police officer Siraj Ahmed told AFP. Witness Gul Akbar, 22, told AFP the blast took place as those attending the funeral had lined up to offer prayers. "The suicide bomber very easily came here and joined the participants. There was not a single policeman to check him," said Akbar.

Akbar said that the village, close to the lawless tribal region of Darra Adam Khel, had been attacked several times. "We have had several fights with them (militants) but we cannot stop the suicide attacks. We need the government's help to stop such attacks," he said.

Hamyun Khan, a member of the village pro-government militia, complained that the government had not provided enough arms, ammunition and police to deal with the militant threat. "I was standing in the last row. The blast took place in the middle of the funeral. It was so severe and huge that I still feel deaf," he said.

"The government and police are responsible for such incidents." Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani issued a statement condemning the attack and reiterated the government's "resolve to root out the cancer of terrorism from every nook and corner of the country".

Peshawar city lies at the gateway to the country's remote and militant-infested tribal regions.

The United States has repeatedly urged its key anti-militant ally Pakistan to launch army offensives to combat extremists in the border region, which it says is home to key Taliban leaders. But Islamabad says its RESOURCES are already overstretched by the militant threat across the country.

More than 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks throughout Pakistan since government forces launched an offensive against militants in a mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
On Tuesday, a car bomb planted by suspected militants at a filling station in the central Punjab region killed 25 people and wounded 154 others.

The last major attack in the northwest hit a packed mosque during Friday prayers last week on the outskirts of Nowshera, close to Peshawar, killing at least 11 people and wounding over 20 others. Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants launch daily attacks across northwest Pakistan and the tribal belt that Washington has branded the most dangerous place on Earth.

The Taliban target security forces in Pakistan, claiming many attacks in revenge for a covert campaign of US drone strikes in the tribal areas. The United States does not officially confirm the controversial missile strikes, which nevertheless take place with Islamabad's tacit approval.



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