https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mu...-para-academico-acusado-de-insultar-preceitos
An Algerian court today demanded “law enforcement,” that is, a sentence of three to five years in prison for the academic Saïd Djabelkhir, accused of “insulting the precepts of Islam.”
The information was transmitted by Saïd Djabelkhir’s lawyer to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The 53-year-old Algerian scholar’s trial began this morning in the municipality of Sidi M’Hamed, Algiers province. The date of the verdict is not yet known.
Saïd Djabelkhir is accused by seven lawyers and another academic of “offending the precepts of Islam and Muslim rites.”
Algerian law provides for a punishment of three to five years’ imprisonment for people who offend the Prophet Muhammad or who denigrate “the dogma and precepts of Islam, whether in writing, design, statement or any other means.”
“I have nothing to censor. I have all the arguments to defend myself,” this academic specializing in Sufism – a mystical and contemplative current of Islam that spread, in particular, between the 9th and 12th centuries – told AFP shortly before the start of the trial.
During the hearing, Saïd Djabelkhir told the judge that the works he produced are intended for reflection and interpretation of the texts that are at the foundation of Islam, according to a local media outlet.
To the AFP, the investigator said, during a recent interview, that “a great effort is needed” to make a new reflection on “the founding texts of Islam,” since “the traditional readings” do not correspond “to the expectations, needs and issues “of contemporary man.”
With a degree in Islamic Sciences, author of two works on religion, Saïd Djabelkhir stated that he is being accused “by people who have no competence in matters of religion.”
The scholar’s lawyers said that the key issue in the case is to have a judgment on matters of a religious nature without having specialists in the matter to decide.
Another lawyer for Saïd Djabelkhir explained that the trial is an “inquisition,” stating that the ideas that are being debated in court should be the subject of outside reflection.
In an interview with Le Figaro, published on Tuesday, the investigator said it was the “first time in Algerian history that an academic has been prosecuted for speaking out in his area of competence,” since, “normally, people prosecuted they are activists or young people “who have posted content on social media, but” are not experts in Islam.”
An Algerian court today demanded “law enforcement,” that is, a sentence of three to five years in prison for the academic Saïd Djabelkhir, accused of “insulting the precepts of Islam.”
The information was transmitted by Saïd Djabelkhir’s lawyer to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The 53-year-old Algerian scholar’s trial began this morning in the municipality of Sidi M’Hamed, Algiers province. The date of the verdict is not yet known.
Saïd Djabelkhir is accused by seven lawyers and another academic of “offending the precepts of Islam and Muslim rites.”
Algerian law provides for a punishment of three to five years’ imprisonment for people who offend the Prophet Muhammad or who denigrate “the dogma and precepts of Islam, whether in writing, design, statement or any other means.”
“I have nothing to censor. I have all the arguments to defend myself,” this academic specializing in Sufism – a mystical and contemplative current of Islam that spread, in particular, between the 9th and 12th centuries – told AFP shortly before the start of the trial.
During the hearing, Saïd Djabelkhir told the judge that the works he produced are intended for reflection and interpretation of the texts that are at the foundation of Islam, according to a local media outlet.
To the AFP, the investigator said, during a recent interview, that “a great effort is needed” to make a new reflection on “the founding texts of Islam,” since “the traditional readings” do not correspond “to the expectations, needs and issues “of contemporary man.”
With a degree in Islamic Sciences, author of two works on religion, Saïd Djabelkhir stated that he is being accused “by people who have no competence in matters of religion.”
The scholar’s lawyers said that the key issue in the case is to have a judgment on matters of a religious nature without having specialists in the matter to decide.
Another lawyer for Saïd Djabelkhir explained that the trial is an “inquisition,” stating that the ideas that are being debated in court should be the subject of outside reflection.
In an interview with Le Figaro, published on Tuesday, the investigator said it was the “first time in Algerian history that an academic has been prosecuted for speaking out in his area of competence,” since, “normally, people prosecuted they are activists or young people “who have posted content on social media, but” are not experts in Islam.”
