Jordanian writer shot dead outside his trial for insulting Islam

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: The Guardian

A prominent and controversial Jordanian writer – who was on trial for sharing a cartoon deemed offensive to Islam – has been shot dead outside the Amman court where he was due to appear.

Nahed Hattar, aged 56 and a Christian, posted a cartoon on Facebook earlier this year, which he said mocked jihadi attitudes, for which he was facing charges in Jordan of inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islam.

Arrested in August, he was released on bail in early September. He was shot three times in the head as he arrived at court on Sunday for a hearing.

According to the Jordanian state news agency, Petra, the gunman was arrested at the scene of the shooting in Amman’s Abdali district.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/25/jordanian-writer-shot-dead-trial-insulting-islam-nahed-hattar

[6chars]

1. Jordan?

I don't think of Jordan as having such strong (not tm) Islamic activity.

[get the red out]

2. I didn't see them that way either

Religious fanaticism has risen so much across the world (except for some Eurpean countries), this definitely leads to murders.

[gordianot]

3. Not much shocks me anymore.

It would not surprise me to see some one shot in this country over reaction to Star Spangle Banner. This seems to be everywhere.

[EL34x4]

9. I would be surprised.

Since it isn't happening.

Murdering someone for insulting Islam? Not surprising. Happens all the time.

[atreides1]

10. It hasn't happened yet!

Doesn't mean it can't happen at all! People beat other people for insulting the home team at a sports event...I bet no one ever thought that the mother of a cheer leader would plot to murder the mother of her daughters rival!

Look up Wanda Webb Holloway!

Never say it can't happen, always allow for the possibility that it can!!!

[oberliner]

4. 71 percent of Jordanians think Sharia Law should be the law of the land

82 percent of those Jordanians believe the death penalty is the appropriate punishment for a person who leaves Islam.

http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/

[GummyBearz]

11. But they are just a minority

There are billions of muslims so this stat doesn't count!

[philosslayer]

13. That is correct

Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. But your sarcasm is noted

[NobodyHere]

17. Tell that to Nahed Hattar

[oberliner]

20. It's definitely not a religion of tolerance

Like most religions, it is the exact opposite of tolerant.

[Lokilooney]

24. Or as the joke goes

Islam is a religion of peace and if you say otherwise I'll kill you!

[Angel Martin]

25. Behead those who say Islam is violent ! nt

[Missn-Hitch]

41. Hear, hear!!

[GummyBearz]

27. There is the philosslayer I know

Preach on brother. There are a lot of cathedrals in europe that need to get converted into mosques sooner rather than later, right?

[Coventina]

28. Don't forget that European women should start wearing the hijab!

Because, it's so beautiful and is welcoming to arriving Muslims!

[philosslayer]

30. Go ahead, keep preaching how horrible Islam is

and then remind me of how what you are saying differs from what Donald Trump is saying.

[GummyBearz]

31. That was the best you could do?

Very poor... trying to bring trump into the equation? I implied european cathedrals (many of which are historic sites; see Notre Dame for example) should not get torn down and converted to mosques, and your best retort was to bring up the straw man of trump? That was cute, in the sort of way that I couldn't stop laughing at it for the last 5 minutes. Try again if you want, but think first this time

[romanic]

33. Don't forget about getting rid of those racist Sombreros

Philo has a lot of work to do.

[Missn-Hitch]

42. I do have Muslim friends.

I do like living in a country where there are churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, etc. I am not convinced that Islam is not compatible with western values. Our constitution will most certainly withstand this dumb talk of Sharia Law taking over the U.S. Now, Christian Dominionism.....maybe not so much. Depends on who gets to bring in the next batch of judges.

But there is something distinct about Islam that needs to be mocked and derided. Like another post correctly said, 'Islam is a religion of peace and if you say otherwise, I will kill you.' These are Arab countries and their laws. That's really f***ed up!

[leftynyc]

48. Tolerance?

Not even you can say that with a straight face. Don't even try.

[NaturalHigh]

51. "Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance."

Which you believe should take over Europe. Yeah, we got it.

[Yo_Mama]

6. It has very strong and radical Islamic factions.

I believe Jordan, and even the Muslim Brotherhood Jordanian version (IAF), is considerably more moderate than in some other countries in the region.

However, recently the security position seems to have worsened with multiple serious incidents:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/on-the-middle-east/2016/jul/25/terrorist-attacks-and-security-lapses-fuel-fears-for-jordan-stability

[Igel]

16. The Iraqi AQ guy Zarqawi was Jordanian.

That's where AQ Iraq started before it morphed into ISIS. He was from Zarqaa. The ending -wiy is just an adjective suffix.

The Sunni hinterland of those particular countries are all deeply Salafist. What's happened is that they've been taught to read, to write, given technological abilities and training while being told not to assimilate to other cultures--even those Western-influenced ones in their own country, much less when studying abroad.

Assimilation is evil, cultural diversity is good.

50 years ago these were felaheen and of no great importance. Now they graduate from technical colleges, speak a variety of languages, proselytize on the Internet, and are wealthier so they can afford better quality containers for better quality explosives.

Sa'udi Arabia is what it is because it was never part of an empire, so its upper crust really preserved the indigenous value system. The Ottomans were whipped by the Europeans and adopted an official value system that was billed as enlightened. (Which it was, for all its hatefulness and spite, compared to what it had been and what uneducated rubes in the countryside believed. Now, though, those uneducated rubes aren't uneducated in terms of knowledge but are uneducated in terms of attitudes that at one point would have been the object of a liberal education.)

Even sufism, regarded as a vast moderating influence, had some notable spiritual leaders who called for killing Jews to serve Allah and killing infidels or those who are apostate. But of this we do not talk lest we offend moderate, gentle Muslims. For some, it's like putting a mogwai in water. (Movie allusion: Gremlins.)

[branford]

37. If attacks like this happen in countries like France,

it should come as no surprise to hear about such crimes in Jordan.

While the Jordanian government may be a little more tolerant than other Arab and Muslim states, it's still hardly a liberal democracy and it's infested with radical Islamist elements.

[oberliner]

5. Despicable

This is a crime against human rights.

The fact that this man was on trial for posting a cartoon on Facebook was injustice enough.

This murder is sickening.

[6chars]

12. do you think the murderer will be convicted of murder?

[Missn-Hitch]

43. LOL! No, he has to open the Mosque at 5 a.m. every morning.

[rumdude]

15. It's hard to even wrap one's mind around it

He was on trial for posting a cartoon, and then murdered because of it.

[mdbl]

7. People who practice a religion that can't exisit peacefully with other who don't believe

their wacked out religion should be placed on their own island and not allowed to leave. They should also have any gun rights revoked.

[philosslayer]

14. You sound like Donald Trump

n/t

[christx30]

22. So what do you think should happen to people

that are willing to murder over insults to their religion? Oh, I know the answer you'll give: to be made either mayor or placed on a western city council, right? And the insulted deserves whatever happens to him. Either jail or murder.

[Coventina]

23. Give me one good reason why intolerance should be supported by liberals.

Last edited Sun Sep 25, 2016, 05:15 PM - Edit history (1)

On edit: I wonder why one personal attack was deleted from this thread, and another one was allowed to remain?

[6chars]

45. Because liberals aren't islamiphobic?

[romanic]

46. Calling out the ills of Islamic fundamentalism and extremism

is Islamophobia? What, is the liberal platform ignoring the problems that come with a certain religion? That's what passes for liberalism these days?

HAH! Don't make me laugh.

[Coventina]

49. What Romanic said. n/t

[mdbl]

26. I don't care who you think I sound like

Last edited Sun Sep 25, 2016, 09:19 PM - Edit history (1)

These violent religious nuts have to be separated from normal society or quit being violent. It's their choice not mine. I didn't advocate genocide, just separation. They, on the other hand, advocate genocide.

[philosslayer]

29. So maybe we just should not let any of them in the country

until we figure out how to separate the good eggs from the bad eggs. Correct?

[mdbl]

38. couldn't tell you the best way to do it.

Seems they are getting brainwashed at a very young age.

[Missn-Hitch]

44. Do you mean skittles?

[bighart]

47. Very interested to know

what you think should happen to people willing to murder someone in cold blood that MERELY INSULTS THEIR SENSIBILITIES ABOUT THEIR RELIGION by posting a cartoon on a social media site?

Is murder an appropriate response to the posting on a cartoon on social media?
If not what IS an appropriate response to someone posting a cartoon that someone else finds offensive?

What is an appropriate response to someone who MURDERS another person because the murderer is offended by a cartoon their murder VICTIM posted?

[Democat]

8. Right wing extremists

Liberals should never support right wing extremists.

[patsimp]

19. and yet so many gloss over the impact of the fanatics

[patsimp]

18. Poor man. Killed for doing nothing wrong.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

32. In Jordan, he probably committed a crime, ...

... just as smoking a bit of weed is a crime here.

[YOHABLO]

34. Fanatical Islam does not coincide with freedom of speech. Nor does fanatical christianity.

Religion = Poison

[Moostache]

35. ALL religions when preached by fundamentalists are evil perversions.

Religion, at its core, is well beyond its useful shelf-life as a common practice for humanity.

When you get several billion people to believe that a that some cosmic Jewish zombie will grant you immortality (a truly MONSTROUS concept when you stop to REALLY consider its implications...does anyone really believe that eternal life is a 'blessing'? I bet after a trillion unchanging eternal years people who are bored by TV commercials would be suicidal); if you ‘symbolically’ eat his flesh, and telepathically tell him you 'accept him' as your master, so he can rid an evil embedded in man's 'soul' (BY HIMSELF) because some rib woman was tricked into eating a magic apple by a talking snake...THAT IS THE PROBLEM. And that is just the X-tians

Humanity is stuck in a primitive mindset, one that requires active disbelief in empirical evidence and attacks on the scientific method itself in order to prop up ancient myths which contribute to the control of the flock - whether they be X-tians, Muslims or Jews.

It is beyond pathetic and if it weren't so actively dangerous it would be a joke.

There are real problems in the world that require actual solutions...hate for the infidels, or the out-group or the 'other' is not moving us closer to a better society, the exact opposite, really. Unless and until humanity openly embraces reality and casts aside mythology and nonsense, we are going to be stuck in this morass.

Hope the warm fuzzies about a fantasy 'afterlife' are worth it.

[Rustyeye77]

36. If you write the wrong book

Paint the wrong picture
Or read the wrong book

You're dead.

[moondust]

39. King Abdullah of Jordan was on "60 Minutes" tonight.

Apparently taped before this shooting.

Highly recommended viewing. He's the smartest person I've ever heard speak about the Middle East.

Among other things, he offered an explanation of radical Islam and what to do about it.

It was noted that his father advised Bush I against going into Iraq, and Abdullah commented on his own advice to Bush II against going into Iraq--probably some of the best advice in all of human history.

[Skittles]

40. how shaky is your "faith"

if you have to kill someone for criticizing

[Blue_Tires]

50. Full translated text of Nahad Hattar's Cartoon

https://twitter.com/Nervana_1/status/780013042478252033