A Kurdish author with asylum in Norway was sentenced in absentia in Iraq last month to six months imprisonment for blasphemy.
Two years ago author Mariwan Halabjaee wrote "Sex, sharia and women in the history of Islam". Here he wrote that the prophet Mohammed had 19 wives, married a nine-year-old when he was aged 54 and that he took part in murder and rape. Last month a court in Halabja convicted him of blasphemy in absentia.
Halabjaee has lived in hiding in Norway for one and a half years. The sentence states that he should be arrested upon his return to north Iraq but he has now been granted asylum in Norway, newspaper Bergens Tidende reports on its web site.
The writer has had 14 books published. Halabjaee says that he has received a series of death threats and that there is a fatwa saying he should be punished by death unless he asks forgiveness.
Halabjaee also believes Norway is naive about radical Islamist groups that he says authorities allow to develop without control on Norwegian soil.
"Norway has protected me against the terrorists and I hope to be able to play a role in this democratic system. But I am alone and feel imprisoned. I have little contact with people and have to move carefully. Even if I have lived here a year and a half no cultural or other organizations have contacted me," Halabjaee says.
Source: Aftenposten (English)
See also: Norway: New Salman Rushdie
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The alleged "blasphemous" book is available online with the author's permission at:
Sex, Sharia and Women in the History of Islam
http://charlesrcblog.googlepages.com/home
The site also contains information regarding the author, Mariwan Halabjaee,* "the Salman Rushdie of Iraqi-Kurdistan."
The book has also been published as a music video:
Alice Cooper - Only Women Bleed (Sex, Sharia remix) music video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZSPnJ-FXTmg
* Mariwan Halabjaee (sp. Marywan / Halabjay, Halabjayee, Halabjaye, Halabjayi)
As reported in "Mariwan Halabjaee, the Salman Rushdie of Iraqi Kurdistan, Threatened by Mullah Krekar," in September 2008 Mullah Krekar threatened to kill Mariwan Halabjaee in an audio file published on the Kurdish website Renesans.nu. Mullah Krekar was the original leader of the Islamist terrorist group Ansar al-Islam in Iraq.
Mr. Halabjaee is the author of the book Sex, Sharia and Women in the History of Islam. The allegedly "blasphemous" book is about how Islam is allegedly used to oppress women. Mullah Krekar compared Mr. Halabjaee with, among others, Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Mr. Halabjaee was forced to flee to Norway from Iraqi Kurdistan because the Islamic League of Kurdistan issued a fatwa to kill him. In August 2006, Mr. Halabjaee was granted political asylum in Norway. In December 2007, Mr. Halabjaee was convicted in absentia in Iraqi Kurdistan for the crime of blasphemy.
Ironically, Mullah Krekar, like Mr. Halabjaee, currently resides in Norway as a refugee. Since February 2003 Mullah Krekar has an expulsion order against him in Norway. The order has been suspended, however, pending Iraqi government guarantees that Mullah Krekar will not face torture or execution.
* Mariwan Halabjaee (sp. Marywan / Halabjay, Halabjayee, Halabjaye, Halabjayi)
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