Author shot after being accused of insulting Islam in Jordan

[Melech 9,900]

"A gunman has shot dead prominent Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar outside a court where he was facing charges for sharing a cartoon deemed offensive to Islam, state news agency Petra reported.

Hattar was struck by three bullets before the assailant was arrested on Sunday, Petra said. Witnesses said that a man had opened fire in front of the court in Amman's Abdali district.

The 56-year-old Christian was arrested on August 13 after posting a caricature on his Facebook account that depicted a beared man in heaven smoking in bed with women, asking God to bring him wine and cashews.

Police stood guard in front of a hospital where Hattar's body was held in Amman [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters]

He removed the cartoon shortly thereafter, saying "it mocks terrorists and their concept of God and heaven. It does not infringe God's divinity in any way".

However, many Jordanian Muslims considered it offensive and against their religion. The authorities said Hatter violated the law by widely sharing the caricature.

He was charged with inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islam before being released on bail in early September.

'Shocked'

Sara Williams, a Jordan-based journalist, told Al Jazeera that Hattar had been detained in the past over critical postings about the Jordan's king.

"The was not his first brush with the law but people I have spoken to are shocked about today's events," Williams said.

"This morning, outside the hospital where mister Hattar's body was taken, some family members of his were screaming of rage at the interior ministry, which is responsible for security, and particularly cursing the minister of interior.

"A cousin said to me that the family would be calling for the resignation of the government because they see this assassination as a result of the negligence of Jordan's security services."

Social media users also called on the government to question and arrest Hattar, and some attacked him for being Christian and a secularist.

Attempting to explain his motive for sharing the cartoon, Hattar said that he did not intend to cause offence to Muslims and wanted the cartoon to "expose" the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In another explanation, Hattar said that "as a non-believer" he respected "the believers who did not understand the satire behind the cartoon".

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/jordan-nahed-hattar-shot-dead-cartoon-trial-160925080745317.html

This is the cartoon. 

 

May this world be free of religious extremism someday. 

[Miky 9,587]

how surprising... what an animal

[JevyDuty 2,961]

This is so sad. Does the Koran teaches one to grow up to be so rigid and with 0% sense of humor?

Cuz to paraphrase the Bible, you shall be judged with the same harshness you judge others. 

[Shadowcrest 2,487]

37 minutes ago, Larry Hill said:

This is so sad. Does the Koran teaches one to grow up to be so rigid and with 0% sense of humor?

Cuz to paraphrase the Bible, you shall be judged with the same harshness you judge others. 

You mean the Quran? 

[calmar 22,768]

4 minutes ago, Themysciran said:

You mean the Quran? 

Koran is an acceptable alternative spelling of Quran or Qur'an.

Anyway, I thought Jordan was more secular than this. Guess not.  

[Zsolti 2,688]

who was the gunman? 

[Goosey 3,017]

14 hours ago, calmar said:

Koran is an acceptable alternative spelling of Quran or Qur'an.

Also Coran!