A counter-terrorism expert has cautioned that extremist groups use blasphemy to stifle free expression.
William Shawcross, who was selected by the British government to lead the evaluation of the Prevent counter-terrorism policy, stated that the Batley controversy exemplified how some organisations were using blasphemy to stifle free expression.
In March of last year, a controversy erupted at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire after a religious education teacher showed his students a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, prompting him to go into hiding and receive death threats.
Following loud protests from parents and several community members at the school gates, the instructor fled his house and was suspended, but was eventually exonerated after an independent investigation determined he had not intended to offend.
The teacher at Batley Grammar School allegedly provoked outrage by displaying students drawings of the Prophet Muhammad during a RE class. Pictured are demonstrators in front of the school in March 2021
It provoked a wave of demonstrations, with people praying outside the Batley, West Yorkshire, school. The school was closed and the unidentified educator was suspended.
During the controversy, protesters addressed the press during rallies at the school gates.
A year after the incident, the unnamed instructor was still in hiding and feared for the safety of his family.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Mr. Shawcross stated that the West had not “came to grips” with these extremist groups that use blasphemy to assault free speech.
The charge of blasphemy appears to pose a threat to free expression. The recent heinous attack on Salman Rushdie is another evidence that we haven’t come to terms with it,’ Mr. Shawcross was quoted as saying in the journal.
For his 1988 novel, the Satanic Verses, Sir Salman Rushdie (shown in 2019), winner of the Booker Prize, received death threats and a fatwa from Iran.
Salman Rushdie, author of the controversial 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, was attacked at a literary event in New York City last month.
Ayatollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran, issued a fatwa – a religious decree – calling for Mr. Rushdie’s execution in 1989 in response to the book’s blasphemous content.
Mr. Shawcross also cited a 39-year-old Christian preacher who was cut across the face with a knife at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park for criticizing the Quran, as well as the removal of the controversial film Lady of Heavy from several theaters following a wave of protests.
For representing the Prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima, the film and its makers were accused of blasphemy. According to the majority of Islamic schools, depictions of the prophet are against the spirit of the faith, insulting, and promote the worship of idols.
Mr. Shawcross said, “Here in the United Kingdom, we’ve had a teacher go into hiding, a shopkeeper in Glasgow [Asad Shah] assassinated, a Christian preacher stabbed at Speakers’ Corner, and a Shia film banned from theaters at the insistence of protesters.”
The author Salman Rushdie was attacked in upstate New York and evacuated for emergency surgery (above).
He also asked the question, “What must be done regarding free speech in light of our worries regarding extremism and terrorism, given that some of these incidents were actually terroristic?”
Mr. Shawcross said that the United Kingdom was not “fighting back” against individuals who used blasphemy as a pretext to undermine free expression.
Former Cabinet minister Michael Gove, who was also there, stated, “Free speech is meaningless if it does not include the right to offend.”
Mr. Gove also praised Emmanuel Macron as “very resolute” when asked if the British government should adopt a more resolute stance similar to that of the French president, who approved a state funeral for a teacher who was executed for showing students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.