Censorship in Islamic societies
[1] The (OIC), the world's second largest intergovernmental organization, comprising fifty-seven Islamic states, has actively lobbied for a global ban on what it perceives as anti-Islamic blasphemy,[1][5] especially after the publication of Innocence of Muslims — a "low-quality film" depicting Muhammad as a madman, philanderer, and pedophile,[1] — triggered protests and demonstrations in over a dozen Islamic countries; but these OIC actions constitute a major step to criminalize speech critical of religion.
One of Afghanistan's most popular television soap operas, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi,[10] has faced threats of a total banning from the country unless the shows were heavily modified.
[9] Azim Roboti, director of the Kabul company 'Caravan Film', has remarked about Islamic censorship, The Taliban are on the offensive and terrorism continues unabated.
For example, Youssef Chahine, one of the most popular Egyptian filmmakers in history, had the distribution of his successful 1994 work The Emigrant ended when the Council objected to a character's portrayal of the religious figure Joseph.
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring toppling of Mubarak's government, some conservative Islamists in Egypt's parliament have worked for a comprehensive censorship law banning such displays.
[23] Although both secular and Islamic censorship has existed, widespread use of the internet, physical distribution of DVDs, and so on has broadly allowed a large variety of arts and media access.
[8] In the Islamic Republic of Iran, members of the 1979 Revolution sought to use film and other measures to shift public opinion's against the Shah's regime and, upon taking power, utilized filmmakers for ideological support.
Despite this tradition of censorship, some officials have relaxed implementation of Islamic standards, particularly since the death of Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 (which resulted in the film Two Women by Tahmineh Milani being un-banned before receiving widespread public acclaim).
This process tends to involve having three separate officials inspect works for offending words and phrases, which can take several months to years before approval is granted.
Muslim religious conservatives objected to the story's plot, which describes an isolated ninety-year-old man seeking a night of "wild love" with an adolescent prostitute.
In particular, the Iraqi Law on the Censorship of Foreign Films of 1973 banned the showing of anything with "the propagation of reactionary, chauvinistic, populistic, racialist or rationalistic ideas, of favoring the spirit of defeatism, serving imperialism and Zionism", prohibiting as well anything "defaming the Arab nation and its goals".
[31] In November 2011, the blog of journalist Ismail Khilath Rasheed was shut down by Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, on the grounds that the site contained "anti-Islamic material".
The government banned access to Facebook outright for two months in mid-2010 after the controversial page titled "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" received public attention.
[35] Public cinemas became illegal in 1983 when conservative clerics deemed them a corrupting influence, claiming that both Western and Arab-language films were, "contrary to the teachings of Islam."
[37] In one well-publicized instance of Islamic censorship, the government of Tunisia fined Nabil Karoui, owner of Tunis-based company Nessma TV, about $1,700 in May 2012 for airing the controversial film Persepolis.
A letter pinned to Van Gogh's body with a knife was a death threat to Ayaan Hirsi Ali who provided the script and the voice-over for the film.
[45][46] The makers of the television series South Park were mired in controversy for satirizing issues surrounding the depiction of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.
[47][48][49][50][51][52][53] When an anti-Islamic film trailer titled Innocence of Muslims was uploaded to YouTube, it was perceived as denigration of the prophet Muhammad and it culminated in demonstrations and violent protests against the video.
[66] In 2008, Random House cancelled publication of Sherry Jones' The Jewel of Medina — a work of historical fiction focusing upon the life of 'Ā'ishah bint Abī Bakr, third wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad — due to claims that the novel "made fun of Muslims and their history," and thus raised "a very real possibility of major danger for the building and staff and widespread violence" or even stood to create "a national security issue".
[69] Although India's constitution protects freedom of speech as a fundamental right, it allows for "reasonable restrictions" in the interests of "public order, decency or morality".
