No worries, however, because as we all know Tunisia is just "re-adjusting" to it's new democracy.
Nothing to see people...move along.
From Reuters April 12 by Tarek Amara
Nothing to see people...move along.
From Reuters April 12 by Tarek Amara
Tunisian jailed for desecrating the Koran
(Reuters) - A Tunisian court has sentenced a man to four years in prison for desecrating the Koran, official media reported on Thursday.
Respect for religious symbols has become a matter of furious debate in Tunisia since the 2011 democratic revolution, which led to the election of an Islamist-led government that opponents fear is bent on gradually suppressing secular ways of life.
Prosecutors in the court case said the man, Ramzi Absha, had thrown copies of the Muslim holy book into lavatories at several mosques in the southern city of Ben Guerdane, according to the official news agency TAP.
A lawyer for Absha said the sentence was unfair. "The defendant suffers from mental illness and this should be taken into account," TAP quoted Abdel Nasser Aouini as saying.
Last month, a court sentenced two young Tunisians, one of them in absentia, to seven years in jail for posting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad on Facebook.
Islamists said the caricatures were a gross insult but secularists said the sentence was too harsh and amounted to a crackdown on freedom of expression.
The revolution fanned underlying tension in Tunisia between conservative Muslims who believe their faith should be given a bigger role in public life and secularists who say freedom of expression and women's rights are now in jeopardy.
The government, led by the moderate Islamist Ennahda party that won 42 percent of seats in the post-revolution election, says it has a duty to defend standards of public decency.
Its secularist opponents accuse it of using the judicial system to crack down on anyone who does not fall into line with religious orthodoxy.
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