Lafif Lakhdar
Update: Reformers and neo-con bloggers, perfect together. (I like Stefie’s motto: Dedicated to all who fight for freedom everywhere. Dedicated to all who don’t fear to say what they think.)
Crossposted at Dean’s and also Stephen’s, both of whom have been very kind in letting me guest post to publicize the Yemeni reform movement. I figure they won’t mind if I throw in a Tunesian reformer now and then.
Original post: We interupt our normally scheduled Yemen blogging to draw your attention to the case of Lafif Lakhdar, fatwa-ed reformist writer. He needs a protection detail from the French government and a lawyer in England to seek legal recourse againt Sheik Rached Ghannouchi, who issued the fatwa.
It has become increasingly apparent the war of ideas is not between Islam and the West but within the Islamic community itself. Those who promote modernism, secular education, democracy, woman’s rights, dialog, pluralism, ect are often fatwa-ed.
There’s that guy in Quwait who was called un-Islamic for advocating for music lessons in the schools, another writer in Lebanon recently who stopped writing because of a serious fatwa (death threat), and many others including Lafif who are threatened with death for their ideas. In Lafif’s case, he is being accused of authoring a blasphemous book that he didnt write.
We bloggers embody that consensus that everybody has the right to speak their opinion without intimidation or death threats. And we bloggers have the power to bring support to the reformists in the absence of MSM attention.
This is Lafif’s english page at Middle East Transparent although I think he does a lot of good writing in Arabic. Here’s a letter to the UN (of all people) asking for protection for Lafif:
Greetings.
Our organization, International Committee to Protect Freethinkers (ICPF) would like to draw your immediate attention to the case of the famous Tunisian writer Lafif Lakhdar whose life stands endangered due to a Fatwa pronounced by the London-based Islamic Al-Nahdah group led by its cleric Sheik Rached Gannouchi.Lafif Lakhdar was falsely accused of authoring a book critical of Prophet Muhammad following an announcement by the London-based Islamist site Nahdah.net on 6 May 2005. This was followed by the publication of a critical chapter of the book in the Sudanese Islamist newspaper “Al-Wifaq” that led to agitations and riots calling for the murder of the apostate writer.
Despite Lafif Lakhdar’s vehement denial of the accusation of having authored the critical book, the Fatwa has not been revoked thus forcing him to face threats from religious fanatics. Lafif Lakhdar is one of the most famous advocates of secular democracy, women’s rights and peaceful co-existence of Muslims with non-Muslims in the Middle East countries. He is now living in France. The false allegations spread by the cleric Sheik Rached Ghannouchi through his Islamic Al-Nahdah.net has constrained Lafif Lakhdar not only to seek protection for his life but also to strive for prosecution of Sheik Rached Ghannouchi in the British Courts.
In the light of the above facts our Committee requests you to persuade the French Government to provide protection to Lafif Lakhdar who is a resident of France and to call on the British Government to prosecute the cleric Sheik Rached Ghannouchi for incitement to murder the writer. Please take every possible action to SAVE the freethinking writer and social reformer and put an end to fatwas in the Muslim countries.
Our Committee will be much pleased to furnish any other information you may require in this regard.
To contact the Committee: icpf_campaign@rediffmail.com or the Lafif Defense Committee LLIDC@hotmail.com
