Category Archives: Freedom of Expression

Salil Tripathi writes in the WSJ of the continuing attacks on freedom of expression by both Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists in the “most populous democracy in the world”:

In a little-noticed case on Feb. 26, police in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh arrested Macha Laxmaiah, an author who writes using the pseudonym Krantikar (“revolutionary”), and his distributors, including Innaiah Narisetti, president of the Hyderabad-based nonprofit Center for Inquiry, for “hurting the sentiments of Muslims.” Their alleged crime? The distribution of “Crescent Over the World,” a book including contributions from Salman Rushdie, Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, and a cartoon from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Mr. Narisetti is out on bail now; Mr. Laxmaiah remains in custody.

This is a cross-post from Harry’s Place of an article by Imran

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Maqbool Fida (‘MF’) Husain is a 95-year old Indian artist, often referred to as the Picasso of India. Following a celebrated career spanning seven decades, Husain became embroiled in controversy in 1996, following the publication of an article about nude images of Hindu gods he had painted in the 1970s. He has reportedly been the subject of death threats ever since, and lives in exile between London and Dubai. Husain is still the subject of numerous pending lawsuits in India on the grounds of offending the sensibilities of religious Hindus with his risqué images.

The other day it emerged that the Gulf state of Qatar (home of Al-Jazeera) has offered Husain Qatari citizenship. If this is in fact true, this is a real turnaround. In 2006, at the height of the Danish cartoon fiasco, Qatar’s Al-Watan newspaper (which is owned by the country’s royal family) had this to say about the matter: