... Because, you know, it just never gets old.
This time it's Halifax's Center For Islamic Development at the impetus of director Zia Khan. The complaint was filed on April 21st in response to a Bruce McKinnon cartoon depicting a Nova Scotian convert to Islam named Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, whose husband was arrested during an anti-terrorism raid as one of the Toronto 18. In the cartoon, Jamal is portrayed holding a sign that reads "I Want Millions" and a speech bubble that says "I can put it towards my husband's next training camp."
The cartoon references an interview with Jamal in which she expressed her intent to sue the Federal Government for compensation for her and her family's suffering. Her exact words in the interview were: "I want millions." And so, since depicting her words verbatim is evidently an affront to her human right not to be revealed for what she truly is, her local police department has been notified and a formal human rights complaint has been filed.
CBC:
Zia Khan, director of the Centre for Islamic Development in Halifax, said the cartoon goes beyond what can be considered free speech.
MmmHmm. And the other side of the story?
"The whole purpose of that cartoon was to comment on the outrageous demands of this individual for compensation long before any hearing into her case had ever been held," he said.
In an interview with the Herald before the cartoon ran, Jamal said she wanted to sue the federal government for what her family has gone through and told the reporter, "I want millions," Leger noted.
"[MacKinnon] depicted her exactly the way she looks and used her own words, and that's the genius of cartooning that you're able to do that," he said.
In sum, a cartoonist portrayed the wife of a suspected terrorist precisely as she looks, holding a sign with words she actually spoke, and with humorous commentary regarding her motives and ideology included. Yeah, I can see how that "intimidates, harms or terrifies an entire group of people" and so constitutes a hate crime. You go, girl!
I don't understand how these groups have the energy for all this indignation and litigation. It must be exhausting. How about next week we take a breather, guys? No stifling of free speech. Just for a week. Please?
ALSO: Darcey gives Khan and Jamal hell over at Dust My Broom and Blazing Cat Fur shares her thoughts as well.
UPDATE: Some of Ms. Jamal's online postings:
“How can your brothers and sisters live in peace and safety while being raped, pillaged and plundered by nations and corporations vying for the wealth contained in their lands, sucking the blood of the people to get at it? Are you going to give them a Quran, spread flower petals, spray some nice scents and pray for their enlightenment?” she said in one Muslim forum.
“It is your duty to defend your (community), jihad is the order of your creator to bring about peace, by the sword, not by using misplaced (verses found in the Quran) like "There is no compulsion in religion." There is compulsion in stopping oppression. Allah has given you numerous examples and signs and commands to use violence to protect the oppressed.”
And more postings from Ms. Jamal and some of her bestest friends:
“Know what you will face one day. Let them call you a terrorist, let them make you look like a savage, but know that THIS [the American military] is the filth of the earth, the uncivilised destroyer of humanity.”
“[And] if [my husband] ever refuses a clear opportunity to leave for jihad, then i want the choice of divorce.”
“All muslim politicians are corrupt. There's no one out there willing to rule the country by the laws of Allah, rather they fight to rule the country by the laws of democracy.”
“Are you accepting a system that separates religion and state? Are you gonna give your pledge of allegiance to a party that puts secular laws above the laws of Allah? Are you gonna worship that which they worship? Are you going to throw away the most important thing that makes you a muslim?”
“May Allah crush these jews, bring them down to their kneees, humuliate them. Ya Allah make their women widows and their children orphans.”
“May Allah curse the jews.. Ameen”
UPDATE II: A thorough exposition of Jamal's views. Go. Read.
UPDATE III: Welcome, The Jawa Report readers!
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