Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Freedom of Expression and Blasphemy, Islam and Article 10 ECHR(University of Leicester, 2023-11-24) Jan, Bayan Nwar; Cumper, PeterFreedom of expression is a recognised human right around the world with major impact on all societies, regardless of their regime of government. However, being able to express themselves freely, one can cause harm by insulting or undermining other people or organisation’s reputation. The topic becomes particularly sensitive when it comes to religion and blasphemous statements. While there can be legitimate criticism of religious practices, many of the blasphemous forms of expression go directly against the existence of God, the legitimacy of the religious institutions or the rightfulness of the holy writings. Such statements cannot be protected by the freedom of expression as they are harmful and governments around the world should be sensitive to the topic. This limitation of the freedom of expression is not necessarily in breach of international human rights standards. The aforementioned liberty is not absolute and can be subjected to lawful limitations where it is necessary. The practice of the European Court of Human Rights is rich in examples of how the right can be subjected to limitations where the democratic societies require so. Turning to the Islamic world where human rights standards are being quickly developed, this same logic can be applied. There is a major misconception that human rights are incompatible with Sharia law, however, this is not the case. Sharia is progressive and provides a flexible framework where the holy word of the Quran can coexist with modern human rights standards. This thesis examines the correlation between Sharia and Human Rights and Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression with the aim of clarifying the alleged tensions between these notions.10 0