Various Islamic leaders have called for the death of our colleague and friend, respected Sun columnist Tarek Fatah, while he hosts a television talk show abroad in India.

This is wrong and an affront to the liberal values of tolerance and diversity that all Canadians hold dear.

In a Sun column last week, Fatah explained the gathering storm: “One cleric pronounced on my TV show that I was a ‘kafir’, an apostate from Islam that, under some interpretations of sharia law, allows any Muslim to kill me.”

Then Fatah recalled how he , “woke up Tuesday morning to read the Times of India reporting that an Islamic cleric had put a bounty on my head as well as that of Dr. Subhas Chandra, the head of India’s leading TV news network, Zee News (which airs Fatah’s program).”

As if all of this is not disturbing enough there’s now a specific price on Fatah’s head.

According to the Hindustan Times, the All-India Faisan-e-Madina Council, “has announced a ‘reward’ … to behead Islamic scholar Tarek Fatah.”

What has Fatah done that’s so wrong on his talk show, Fatah Ka Fatwa (Fatah’s Fatwa)?

In his own words, “we grapple with issues that for centuries have never been fully discussed openly in public, outside the confines of Muslim homes.

“These include polygamy, child marriage, the institution of Muta’a (a temporary marriage that provides a theological cover for prostitution) and contempt for ‘kafirs’, meaning non-Muslims.”

Ironically Fatah’s enemies basically agree, complaining that: “In his programme, he claims that it is not required to wear a burqa and terms triple talaq (an instant divorce proclaimed by the husband) as haram. Muslims must not listen to his advice and come forward against him.”

They don’t like that Fatah is speaking up for basic human rights we take for granted in Canada.

Fatah went to India of his own free will to engage in what he knew would be provocative discourse in that country.

But all he is doing is standing up for our values.

Canadians, and our political leaders, should be outraged by these threats against him.

Much of the outrage against Fatah has been fomented online, where there are no barriers or borders.

Canadian can fight back. They can #StandWithTarek.