In a press release today PEN Canada has denounced the murder of writer Nahed Hattar. The Jordanian writer was killed on the weekend as he approached the steps of a court building in Amman. He had been charged with “insulting Islam” resulting from a cartoon he had briefly posted on his Facebook page.

Hattar, aged 56, was Christian-born but considered himself an atheist. He was shot and killed by a man later found to be a 39 year-old Imam from a city mosque who was wearing a traditional Arab dishdasha often worn by conservatives who adhere to a strict version of Islam.

“Violence in the name of a religious creed does a gross disservice to that very creed” PEN Canada

The author of the cartoon is not clear but Hattar said it was to mock the DAESH (ISIS) view of heaven, and pictured a bearded man in smoking in bed with two women and asking God to bring him wine and cashews. The government said though he may not have created the caricature, he had broken the law by sharing it.

The posting was quickly removed with Hattar saying “it mocks terrorists and their concept of God and heaven. It does not infringe God’s divinity in any way”.

Nevertheless, it angered many Muslims and the government which had him arrested, then released on bail to await trial which would have begun this week.

Majed Hattar, right, brother of the Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar, speaks to the media during a sit-in in Al-Fuheis © Muhammad Hamed/Reuters

PEN Canada president Randy Boyagoda said, “Violence in the name of a religious creed does a gross disservice to that very creed, undermines both religious freedom and freedom of expression, and, as in the present case, leads to the taking of a human life”.

In 2010, a PEN International panel urged the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva not to support legal restrictions on expression that is considered offensive or defamatory to religions. PEN argued that such measures do little to foster mutual understanding and respect and are often used to stifle creative freedom and suppress minority views

Pen Canada is part of an international group of writers and journalists who defend the right of freedom of expression.

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