Bangladesh PM rejects blasphemy law

08 April, 2013 - The Prime Minister of Bangladesh on Monday firmly rejected demands by Islamists for a new anti-blasphemy law to punish those who defame Islam and Prophet Muhammad. In an interview to BBC, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said existing laws were sufficient to punish anyone who attempted to insult religion. Her comments came just days after hundreds of thousands of supporters of an umbrella organization of Islamists held a massive rally in Dhaka. The marchers called for the death penalty for those guilty of blasphemy. Hasina said, “This country is a secular democracy. So each and every religion has the right to practice their religion freely and fair.” “But,” she said, “it is not fair to hurt anybody's religious feeling. Always we try to protect every religious sentiment." The Islamists have given a three-week ultimatum to the government to meet their demands, including tough punishment to those who they describe as atheist bloggers, who are also accused of making derogatory comments against Islam. "We will go through all the demands and then we will see. If there is any reasonable one, we will fulfil. If it is not reasonable or not suitable for our country or society we will not accept it," the prime minister said. Hasina defended her government's decision to arrest four bloggers last week on suspicion of harming religious sentiment through their work. The arrests prompted eight blog operators to black out their websites, with liberals accusing the government of yielding to Islamist pressure.
In Bangladesh, Islam is the state religion, practiced by more than 89% of the population. Catholics are just 0.1%. The Constitution does not recognize Sharia law and guarantees complete freedom of worship, even if conversions to a religion other than Islam are often opposed. (Source:BBC)