Thursday, September 20, 2007

This Is What Censorship Looks Like

In this country, behind the safety of the First Amendment, a lot of what people scream "censorship" about really isn't. It's usually a private actor that has decided not to promote/broadcast/publish something, not the state stepping in to squelch expression.

By contrast, this is real censorship:

Bangladeshi authorities Tuesday arrested a cartoonist after drawings that Muslims said insulted their religion were published in a national newspaper, police and the government said.

A Home Ministry statement said Arifur Rahman's sketches — titled 'Name' — that came out Monday in a weekly supplement of the Prothom Alo — 'hurt the religious sentiments of the people.'

* * *

Rahman was yet to be formally charged, Alam said, adding that he was arrested under a stringent law that allows detention without any specific charges.

Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation, has no specific blasphemy laws. But offenders can be prosecuted for hurting religious or public sentiments.
Well, OK, so that "detention without charge" thing is right up our alley (see Padilla, Jose, et. al). But at least we don't have US Marshals or FBI agents running around arresting cartoonists for hurting people's feelings.

If you're curious, you can see the cartoon in this diary over at DailyKos. Seems pretty funny to me, but I'm the blasphemous sort.

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