Georgia Planning ‘Blasphemy Bill’ to Protect ‘Religious Feelings;’ Some Church Reps Opposed

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(Photo: Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili)

Christian Post Report – Participants march on the street during “Alilo,” a religious procession to celebrate Orthodox Christmas in Tbilisi, Georgia, January 7, 2016. Georgian Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the Julian calendar.

While the country of Georgia is preparing to introduce a “blasphemy bill” that would make insults against religious feeling punishable by heavy fines, some Church and faith representatives have said that is not needed and will target minorities.

“This law is not going to protect anyone; at least not the minorities, and will be a powerful tool against freedom of speech,” said Rusudan Gotsiridze, an evangelical Baptist bishop, according to Liberali.ge.

The controversial bill has already been approved on the committee stage, Eurasianet.org reported, and will now be debated on the parliamentary floor.

The bill is proposing a fine equivalent of $120 for people committing “insults to religious feelings,” which is not a small amount for the average monthly salaries of $328, and the fine would double for a repeated offense.

As much as 83.9 percent of the Georgian population is part of the Orthodox Christian Church, CIA Factbook notes, while close to 10 percent are Muslims. Only about 0.7 percent of people said that they did not have a religion, according to last census in 2002.

Another major global survey by WIN/Gallup International in 2015 placed Georgia in the top five category of countries where the people most often describe themselves as religious.

The official Orthodox Church has said that is not behind the latest bill, explaining in a statement: “Although there are frequent cases of insults and use of hate speech against the [Orthodox] Church and its leader, adoption of such a bill has not been our initiative — neither now nor previously.”

A number of politicians have also spoken out against the bill, which is sponsored by conservative actor-turned-MP Soso Jachvliani, including MP Tamar Kordzaia of the moderate Republican Party.

“In many cases, there can be a clash between freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but it is a matter of priorities among the liberties,” Kordzaia said in an interview with Netgazeti.ge.

“A perceived insult to religious feelings should be disputed by an individual. The state can never know if some particular action is offensive to a particular individual.”

Human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have warned that the bill would undermine freedom of expression if made into a law.

“The proposed legislation would be incompatible with Georgia’s international obligations. It may effectively outlaw criticism of religious leaders and institutions, and suppress free speech on topical political and social issues, including the rights of women, of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, and of religious minorities,” Amnesty said in a statement.

Supporters of the bill have argued, however, that the bill is not meant to protect only Christians, but all religious persuasions in the country, pointing out that members of Orthodox congregations have opposed the openings of mosques and madrassas, even nailing a pig’s head to a Muslim school in one case.

Source : Christian Post

ISIS Crucifies Civilian ‘Spies’ on Advertising Billboards in Libya

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(Photo: REUTERS / Youssef Boudlal)

Christian Post Report – Civilians in Sirte queue to receive food and daily rations donated from various cities in Libya, November 3, 2011.

Islamic State militants are crucifying civilians accused of spying by stringing them up on advertising billboards and leaving them there to hang for days in the Libyan city of Sirte.

U.S. intelligence estimates suggest the number of fighters from the terror group in the North African country has now doubled.

The Zafaran roundabout in Sirte, which once used to be a local business advert hub, is now the scene of violence, Britain’s Express newspaper reports.

After victims are brutally killed and left for dead, grieving families are barred from retrieving their bodies.

One of the victims has been identified as Milad Aburgeeba, a 37-year-old man whose body, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and with the message “spy” written across his body, was hung on a billboard for al least two days.

(Photo: Reuters/Nour Foura)Islamic State billboards are seen along a street in Raqqa, eastern Syria, which is controlled by the Islamic State, October 29, 2014. The billboard (R) reads: “We will win despite the global coalition.”

Sirte was the birthplace of Muammar Gaddafi, who governed Libya as an authoritarian leader from 1969 until he was killed by rebel forces in the Libyan Civil War in 2011. IS loyalists seized Sirte in February 2015.

The U.S. estimate of IS terrorists in Libya has doubled as the fighters are now finding it difficult to enter Syria, according to CNN, which quoted U.S. intelligence officials as saying there may now be up to 6,500 IS fighters in Libya, twice the number previously thought.

“ISIS is investing heavily in Libya,” an official was quoted as saying.

In Iraq and Syria, IS has about 25,000 fighters, down from a previous estimate of up to 31,000, according to a U.S. intelligence report revealed by the White House last week, Reuters reported.

“They (IS) continue to be a substantial threat, but the potential numbers have declined,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest was quoted as saying. “ISIL is having more difficulty than they’ve had before in replenishing their ranks, and we have long been aware of the need of the international community to cooperate to stop the flow of foreign fighters to the region.”

“The decrease reflects the combined effects of battlefield deaths, desertions, internal disciplinary actions, recruiting shortfalls, and difficulties that foreign fighters face traveling to Syria,” Emily Horne, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, was quoted as saying.

IS, also known as Daesh, is an offshoot of al-Qaeda and is working to establish a caliphate in the Levant region and beyond. Christian minorities in Iraq and Syria are among the main civilian targets of the Sunni terror group.

In a recent propaganda video, titled “To the Sons of Jews,” IS showed child soldiers executing shackled prisoners in a “game” of hide-and-seek.

A group of young IS terrorists were then shown studying and practicing martial arts with an instructor. The next scene showed the selection of six of the young recruits, all masked and apparently below the age of 9, by the instructor to play the “game.”

They were shown as stalking six tied-up victims in an ancient fortress, shooting five of them in the head from close range and then beheading the sixth one. The prisoners were all accused of spying in the IS territory.

Source : Christian Post

Syrian Gov’t Committing Rape, Murder, Crimes Against Humanity, UN Report Reveals

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• (Photo: Reuters/Bassam Khabieh)

A man carries an injured child in a site damaged from what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, December 30, 20Christian Post Report – 15.

(Photo: Reuters/Bassam Khabieh)

A boy carries a baby in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, January Christian Post Report – 10, 20Christian Post Report – 16.

(Photo: Reuters/Bassam Khabieh)

A boy reacts in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, January Christian Post Report – 10, 20Christian Post Report – 16.

(Photo: Reuters/Bassam Khabieh)

A boy runs in front of damaged buildings in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, November 26, 20Christian Post Report – 15.

(Photo: Reuters/Bassam Khabieh)

A man carries an injured child as another man gestures at a site hit by missiles fired by Syrian government forces on a busy marketplace in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, October 30, 20Christian Post Report – 15. At least 40 people were killed and about Christian Post Report – 100 wounded after Syrian government forces fired missiles into the market place in a town near Damascus, a conflict monitor and a local rescue group said on Friday.

The U.N. Human Rights Council has warned that while much of the world is focused on the crimes of the Islamic State terror group in Syria, the government of President Bashar al-Assad is carrying out the secret exterminations of thousands of detainees.

“Detainees held by the government were beaten to death, or died as a result of injuries sustained due to torture. Others perished as a consequence of inhuman living conditions,” the report warned.

“The government has committed the crimes against humanity of extermination, murder, rape or other forms of sexual violence, torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearance and other inhuman acts. Based on the same conduct, war crimes have also been committed.”

It warned that these killings are taking place “out of sight,” in what it described as “near-total secrecy.”

It said that these deaths, which occurred between March 20Christian Post Report – 1Christian Post Report – 1 and November 20Christian Post Report – 15, based on 62Christian Post Report – 1 interviews and other supporting documentary material, reveal that the Syrian government is committing grave human rights abuses which are being lost to the international public, because of the ongoing civil war and fight against IS.

(Photo: Reuters/Sultan Kitaz)A civil defence member holds a rescued schoolgirl after what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and hit a school and a residential building in Seif al-Dawla neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, May 3, 20Christian Post Report – 15.

The near five-year civil war in Syria is being waged between Assad, various rebel groups seeking to take down his administration, and IS. While the U.S. and other Western allies have hit IS terror targets in Syria with airstrikes, they have refused to officially support Assad, who has been condemned by the U.S. of severe abuses against his own people.

Back in August 20Christian Post Report – 13, Secretary of State John Kerry said that there was “undeniable” evidence that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in its fight against the rebels, which led to the killing of women, children, and many innocent bystanders.

“What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world,” Kerry said at the time, referring to reports of chemical weapon use.

“It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear. The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable. And despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable.”

Assad’s government continues to rejected accusations that it used chemical weapons, though the U.N. and other monitoring groups have pointed out that authorities continue to deny outside observers access to its territory to investigate the claims.

The H.R. Council’s latest report argues, however, that all of the eyewitness accounts and documentary evidence suggests that the Syrian regime is holding thousands of people at any one time, and thousands of others have disappeared while moving through government-held territory.

The report also reminds readers that IS and other terrorist groups are also carrying out grave human rights abuses in the country, which also includes the torture and routine executions of detainees.

“The situation of detainees in Syria is critical, and represents an urgent and large — scale crisis of human rights protection,” it adds.

“With thousands of persons still in custody, urgent steps need to be taken by the Syrian government, armed groups, the external backers of various belligerents, and the wider international community to prevent further deaths.”

BBC News pointed out that at least 250,000 people have died in the civil war so far, while another 4.6 million people have fled the country as refugees, and another Christian Post Report – 13.5 million people inside Syria are in need of humanitarian assistance.