Category Archives: Irrational religious authority

Interview with Kurt Westergaard, Toronto Canada

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From IFPS

I had the opportunity to spend the day yesterday with several extraordinary men, one of whom, was Kurt Westergaard, the creator of the infamous ‘Moetoon’.

In this interview, I speak at a private house, which is why there is a fair amount of background noise as we prepared dinner after a day of interviews in Toronto, with Kurt, as well as Lars Hedegaard, the creator and president of the Danish Free Press Society, now the International Free Press Society.

Kurt I must say, is a man who history has handed a tough role, and a role which he did not ask for, but accepts with grace, dignity, and a rare humility. I do not get the impression that it was Mr. Westergaards ambition to become a martyr for free speech and to live in a bunker as he does now, or in hiding as he did for years. But he has unflinchingly defended free speech and has not once turned away from his values for the illusion of safety.

Below, is a conversation with Kurt and Lars and their views on freedom of speech, and their recent experience at Yale, a once great institution of western education.

Link: Interview james kurt Lars4-desktop

Kurt Westergaard: ‘The most hated man in Mecca’

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From The National Post.

The most hated man in Mecca

Meet the Danish cartoonist who set the world on fire

Adrian Humphreys, National Post Published: Saturday, October 03, 2009

In Pakistan, tens of thousands of protestors torched cinemas, music stores, fast food outlets and other perceived symbols of Western influence in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in Denmark. Arif Ali, AFP, Getty Images In Pakistan, tens of thousands of protestors torched cinemas, music stores, fast food outlets and other perceived symbols of Western influence in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the …

Despite a grey beard and heavy cane making him look every bit his 74 years, Kurt Westergaard dresses like a teenager: bright red cargo pants strapped up by a studded black belt and red suspenders over a black top, capped by a flowing red scarf and black Stetson.

His duo-chromatic clothing is perhaps the least shocking part of his appearance, however.

As the Danish man who drew the notorious cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad with a lit bomb wrapped in his turban — considered the most inflammatory of 12 cartoons published four years ago this week that ignited a deadly furor — it is the absence of security and the carefree way he stands outside smoking that is most striking.

Beside him, a friend casually carries a large framed reproduction of the cartoon, as if to dispel any mystery about who the flamboyantly dressed man might be. “It is very relaxing,” Mr. Westergaard says about being in Canada for the first time as a spattering of raindrops, rather than concerns over security, drives him indoors. “At home I live under police surveillance, protected by the Danish secret service. We lived in 10 different safe houses and drove 10 different cars.

“I live in a house now which is really a fortress, with steel doors, a panic room, reinforced glass in the windows, surveillance cameras and so on.”

That is the life of a man under threat, with a lucrative bounty on his head. With his fear now transformed into anger, Mr. Westergaard has emerged from his protective cocoon.

Rather than work to mitigate the offence he and fellow Danish artists caused to some fundamentalist Muslims, however, he remains unrepentant and unabashed.

“I don’t regret anything,” he says. Continue Reading →

“It’s good to fight for Allah; it’s good to fight the West; kill the Jews”, says Nassur the bear

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From The National Post

Puppets preach hate on Hamas TV

Michael Higgins, National Post Published: Thursday, October 01, 2009

A screengrab shows a bear on a Hamas TV show, the bear calls for the slaughter of jews. Palestinian Media Watch A screengrab shows a bear on a Hamas TV show, the bear calls for the slaughter of jews.

A Palestinian children’s program is using a bear puppet that talks about “slaughtering” Jews, according to the Israeli watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch.

The character on Hamas TV is the latest in a series of puppets and cartoons used by the weekly show Tomorrow’s Pioneers to promote anti-Semitism and incite violence, said media watch director Itamar Marcus.

The show, which started in 2007, became popular in the Arab world when it began to feature a Mickey Mouse-type character, he said.

“This Mickey Mouse character was teaching killing and murder and slaughter and destruction of Jews. In fact, he was also teaching conquest of the West as well,” Mr. Marcus said.

When media watch, a pro-Israeli organization that monitors Palestinian media, highlighted the story the subsequent international attention led to the character being killed off.

“They had the Mickey Mouse character killed on TV. They had an Israeli kill him and he became a Shahid [martyr],” Mr. Marcus said.

He said since then there have been three more characters, Nahul the Bee (who also became a martyr) and a bunny character called Assud, who in the show was killed during the Gaza war.

“Every time Israel was responsible,” he said.

The latest character is a giant bear, Nassur.

Mr. Marcus said during the show, which also features a real presenter called Saraa, the bear uses two different words for “slaughter” to describe how to rid Israel of Jews.

During the show a child also phones in and talks about wanting to kill Jews for the death of his father.

The program was shown on Al-Aqsa TV, more commonly called Hamas TV, last week.

“All the adult messages of ‘It’s good to die for Allah; it’s good to fight the West; we are going to conquer the West; it’s important to kill the Jews,’ all these adult messages that often come through religious leaders and political leaders, the kids are getting through these cartoon and gigantic puppet characters,” Mr. Marcus said.

In recent years, Hamas has been using mass media to spread its message. In addition to a satellite TV channel, it owns a radio station and newspapers. A German-trained director also released a feature film produced by Hamas earlier this year; reports said he hoped to enter it in the Cannes Film Festival.

Tomorrow’s Pioneers has been widely criticized by media watchdog groups.

The TV station did not return calls for comment.

When the show launched, the station’s deputy manager told CNN that it was about Palestinian children.”They express their feeling regarding what they witness – if it’s occupation it’s about that, and about the prisoners and how to lead the world,” the deputy manager was quoted as saying.

Media watch was set up in 1996 to “gain an understanding of Palestinian society through the monitoring of the Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks,” its website says.

National Post

Saudi Arabia, Funding jihad

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Link: Funding Jihad - Saudi Arabia

I love the $350,000,000 bottle opener prince Aloweed built in Riyadh. Someone should really tell him about the invention of the twist top though.

International Blasphemy Day

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From The Telegraph U.K.

International Blasphemy Day: from Danish cartoons to Jerry Springer – The Opera

It’s International Blasphemy Day. We take a look at some of the key moments in the history of the profane.

By Tom Chivers
Published: 3:29PM BST 30 Sep 2009

Muslims protest in London against the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. International blasphemy day from Danish cartoons to Jerry Springer - The Opera

Muslims protest in London against the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed Photo: EPA

International Blasphemy Day, 30 September, is intended “to remind the world that religion should never again be beyond open and honest discussion”.

It marks the anniversary of the 2005 publication of the 12 Danish cartoons that depicted Mohammed and led to worldwide riots. Its founders want to “dismantle the wall which exists between religion and criticism”.

It has, of course, met with criticism – prominent US Catholic Bill Donohue accuses the movement of picking on Christianity: “The stated purpose of Blasphemy Day has nothing to do with any religion but Islam. So who have they chosen to mock? You guessed it – Christians.”

However, not all religious people take offence. “The Lord Jesus Christ was and is despised and rejected of men,” says Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not commanded to defend his honor, but to be willing to share in the scorn directed to him.”

Here is a brief look at some of the recent history of blasphemy.

• Blasphemy in the UK
The last successful prosecution for blasphemy under British law was surprisingly recent – 1977.

The publisher of the magazine Gay News was given a suspended sentence when he printed a poem, The Love That Dares To Speak Its Name, telling the story of a gay Roman centurion’s love for Jesus.

The prosecution had been brought privately by the morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse.

• Jerry Springer – The Opera
In 2005, the BBC broadcast the musical Jerry Springer: The Opera on national television. In 2007, the campaign group Christian Voice tried to bring a prosecution under blasphemy laws, which outlaw anything which insults, offends or vilifies the Deity, Christ or the Christian religion.

Stephen Green, the director of Christian Voice, said: “Christ is shown apparently wearing a nappy, swearing, saying that he’s a ‘little bit gay’, while God is portrayed as an ineffectual old fool.”

The courts rejected the prosecution.

• UK blasphemy laws are lifted
After the failure of the Jerry Springer prosecution, the human rights organisation Liberty moved to have the laws changed, saying that they “should be shelved in dusty archives, not used as a tool to bring mischievous prosecutions against the arts.”

Within a year they had achieved their goal. MPs voted to abolish the laws in May 2008, after a campaign supported by the author Philip Pullman and the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.

Edward Leigh, a Conservative MP, said the move would encourage more people to make fun of Christianity. He said: “Getting rid of the blasphemy law sends a message that that is OK, but it is insulting to many Christians.”

In the United States, laws against blasphemy were declared unconstitutional in 1952, as the First Amendment of the Constitution demands the separation of church and state. Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wyoming and Pennsylvania have blasphemy laws on their statutes nevertheless, but no-one has ever been prosecuted under them.

• Irish blasphemy laws
As Britain has moved away from criminalising being rude to deities, across the Irish Sea the opposite has happened. In July 2009, the Dáil – the Irish Parliament – voted to make “publishing or uttering blasphemous material” a crime punishable with a fine of up to 25,000 euros.

Prof Dawkins described the move as “a wretched, backward, uncivilised regression to the middle ages,” while Father Ted creator Graham Linehan said that it might have made his sitcom illegal.

The Irish Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, said he was surprised at the “hysterical and incorrect reaction” to the proposals, adding that he believed one of his critics “to have a brain the size of a pea.”

• Mohammed the teddy bear
A British schoolteacher was arrested in Sudan and sentenced to 15 days in prison for insulting the Prophet, after letting her class of seven-year-olds name a teddy bear Mohammed.

Following an international outcry she was released after eight days, despite calls from some Islamic hardliners in the country for her to be publicly flogged or even put to death.

British Muslim peers Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi had flown to Sudan to negotiate her release.

• Muslims march over cartoons of the Prophet
The snowflake that started an avalanche. In September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten performed an experiment testing “the limits of freedom of speech”. Its results were spectacular.

It printed 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. It is blasphemous in Islam to create images of the Prophet – especially when he appears to have a bomb in his turban.

Thousands of Muslims took to the streets around the world. Danish embassies were firebombed, and over 100 deaths were recorded worldwide (some caused when police opened fire on rioting crowds).

A photograph apparently showing a protestor holding a sign saying “Behead those who say Islam is violent” did the internet rounds for a while, but was eventually shown to be doctored.

International Blasphemy Day was founded in response to the outcry.

• Wafer kidnap angers Catholics
In July 2008, a student at a Florida university attended a Catholic Mass. Having received the Communion wafer, he didn’t swallow it, but instead tried to return to his seat to show it to a friend. He was then allegedly accosted by members of the congregation who tried physically to retrieve the Body of Christ.

The local priest described it as “kidnap”, and the abovementioned Bill Donohue called it “beyond hate speech”. The student received emails condemning him to hell, as well as threats to break into his dorm room to steal the cracker back. He then returned the wafer at the following mass, while armed university police officers stood guard.

Atheist blogger PZ Myers, in a post entitled ‘It’s a goddamned cracker!’, defended the student and asked his readers to get hold of a Communion wafer that he could hold hostage himself. He said that he received four death threats in response to the post, including one that “says I should be fired, that the author would like to kill me, and that I only criticize because Catholics are so gentle and kind.”

Video on the origins of Islam. #2. Deep space.

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This is the second in www.vladtepesblog.com series in association with www.tundratabloid.blogspot.com on the possible origins of Islam, with it’s ludicrous ‘prophet’ Mohamed. In this episode, we explore the possibility that Islam may have come from deep space rather than an aquatic origin, as we looked at in the first of the series, Blobfish Mohamed.

September 30 is International Free Press Day

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Four years ago on September 30, 2005,  Jyllands-Posten published twelve drawings of Islam’s prophet Muhammed. To demonstrate that prohibition of any depiction of the prophet, as stipulated by sharia law would not trump Denmark’s freedom of the press, twelve cartoonists had their entries published.

Here they are:

File:Jyllands-Posten-pg3-article-in-Sept-30-2005-edition-of-KulturWeekend-entitled-Muhammeds-ansigt.png
Size of this preview: 424 × 599 pixels

Muslims around the world rioted in response. At least one hundred deaths were reported. The Danish embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran were torched. European buildings were stormed and the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and German flags were desecrated in Gaza City. Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas issued death threats. Critics of the cartoons described them as Islamophobic and racist, arguing they were blasphemous to Muslims and a manifestation of western imperialism. In 2008, slightly after two years of the initial publication, the cartoons were re-published. More riots ensued, complete with shouts of ” death to the cartoonist!”.

Meanwhile, thousands of illustrations of Muhammed have appeared in books by and for Muslims.

mohammedteaches
Persian or central Asian illustration showing Muhammed teaching.

mohammedgabriel
mohammedatmedina
Fourteenth-century Persian miniature
showing the Angel Gabriel speaking
to Muhammed.
Muhammed at Medina, from an
Arab or central Asian medieval-era
manuscript.
mohammedinmosque babymohammed

The Prophet Muhammed in a Mosque. Turkish, 16th Century, painting on paper. The artist depicted Muhammed in very long sleeves so as to avoid showing his hands, though his neck and hints of his features are visible. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Newly born Muhammad in his mother’s arms being shown to his grandfather and citizens of Mecca. From Turkish book painting (date unknown). University of California, San Diego.

——–

James Cohen, vice president of the Canadian desk, IFPS writes thoughtfully and succinctly on the declaration of September 30 as International Free Press Day:

“To further advance the cause of freedom of the press, the International Free Press Society takes the occasion of this first International Free Press Day to salute Kurt Westergaard, and to call, once again, for the repeal all blasphemy and hate speech laws that currently inhibit and restrict vital exchange and debate”.




French art exhibit shut down by offended Quakers. Belgium

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I had to make it Quakers. I am so freaking tired of Muslims and all things Islamic. I thought for freaking ONCE couldn’t it be someone else who demands that the rest of the world change everything about itself to conform to it’s barbaric and savage standards. So I decided to pretend this particular example of religious nonsense and obscene submission to irrational authority backed by thuggery be perpetrated by Quakers and you know what? Chances are, not one of the Quakers will actually be offended by this.

The following most excellent reportage by Gates of Vienna. Never start your day without it.

Muslims Provoked by Art

by Baron Bodissey

Lahlou-Georges 1
Oh, no! It’s happening again: the Islamic world is grievously insulted by a work of art produced by an infidel! More specifically, a French artist has showed disrespect for Muslim prayer mats.

This reminds me of an old joke:

A man is sent to prison for the first time. At night, the lights in the cell block are turned off, and his cellmate goes over to the bars and yells, “Number twelve!” The whole cell block breaks out laughing. A few minutes later, somebody else in the cell block yells, “Number four!” Again, the whole cell block breaks out laughing.

The new guy asks his cellmate what’s going on. “Well,” says the older prisoner, “we’ve all been in this here prison for so long, we all know the same jokes. So we just yell out the number instead of saying the whole joke.”

So the new guy walks up to the bars and yells, “Number six!” There was dead silence in the cell block. He asks the older prisoner, “What’s wrong? Why didn’t I get any laughs?”

“Well,” said the older man, “sometimes it’s not the joke, but how you tell it.”

I suppose I could save our readers a lot of time and say, “Number forty-one!” But just for the heck of it, here’s the whole story, as reported by our Flemish correspondent VH.

First, from Brussel Nieuws:

Artist’s gallery closes down after angry reactions from Muslims

Lahlou-Georges 2Brussels — A young French artist has prematurely closed his gallery in the Charles Rogier Passage, near the train station Brussels North. He had exhibited a work of art that was considered a provocation by some Muslims.

The cause of the fuss was a pair of bright red high heels under a spotlight, surrounded by men’s shoes, all on Muslim prayer mats.

The artwork is exhibited in a gallery whose windows have been sealed since Wednesday to avoid hostile reactions from passers-by. The artist has been threatened before, and the gallery damaged. “They attempted to shatter the window with stones before; that caused a crack in it,” the artist Mehdi Lahlou-Georges says. “And it is a very thick piece of glass; they must have thrown the stone with a lot of force.”

Lahlou-Georges 4The angry reactions came from certain Muslims who view the high heeled shoes as a provocation to their faith.

TV-Brussels approached a random passerby and asked for his response. He did not had no hostile reaction, but the woman’s shoes should not be there, the man said: “Those red high heels bring misfortune. Men and women are always separated during prayers.”

With the woman’s shoes, the artist wanted to point at himself, as a transvestite. The artwork was to remain in the gallery until October 5.

For additional information, see the report by Mark d’Aviano at Het Vrije Volk:
– – – – – – – – –

Lahlou-Georges 3It seems that the stone-throwers have not been arrested and punished, instead they are rewarded because the artwork now has to go. Fortunately we still have some photos. And a few videos.

Eating a banana while balancing a Qur’an on his head: (Mehdi-Georges Lahlou — Stupidité contrôlée II [Stupidity under control]).

Praying with high heels: (Mehdi-Georges Lahlou — The Prayer — Al Fatiha).

There are more videos here.

VH reminds us of a few previous Muslims-versus-Art incidents (these are reference numbers 18, 23, 30, 43, 57, 67, 81, and 86, in case you want to skip them):

Continue Reading →

How not to offend 101; a London Metro police PC handbook

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From The Telegraph U.K.

How not to offend religious minorities – by the Metropolitan Police

London’s Metropolitan Police force has developed a 100,000-word internal ‘handbook’ on different religions, sexual orientations, politically correct terms and youth culture.

By Ian Johnston
Published: 9:25PM BST 26 Sep 2009

The ‘Policing Diversity Online Intranet Resource’, which has been revealed for the first time following a Freedom of Information request, explains how “over the past 10 years, teenagers have developed almost a language of their own”.

Officers annoyed after being called “prity sik” by a gang member are able to learn it is actually a compliment meaning “great”, while anyone basking in the glow of apparent praise that they are “phat phree” can discover it means they are “uncool”.

However other terms suggest some members of the Met may be slightly behind the times if they need to refer to the explanations of commonly used terms such as “whatever”, “butt out” and “bling”. Continue Reading →

Islamic invention knows no bounds! The Butt bomb, or, ‘the sun actually does shine out of my…’ bomb

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As the world of people work on discovering cures for new diseases, better forms of art, ways of making peoples lives better and happier, the Muslim world develops new types of explosive suppositories. The less funny side, is if travel becomes more of a ‘pain in the ass’ civilization collapses. This is not an exaggeration. The dark ages began due to loss of security on the Roman roads.

Post Script: Grace wanted me to re-title this article: Arsehole Arsenal Which is frankly brilliant but this is a family blog. Well, If you are the Adams family maybe.

H/T SW13

Ahmadinejad did not cross EU ‘red line’ with UN speech, says Sweden (EU presidency)

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H/T Gates of Vienna:

Sweden, Finland and non-EU Norway stayed in the room when Ahmadinejad spoke: EJPRESS

0ec79aa8-ebb7-466f-8671-068ed2b9491f.bmp

Sweden, Finland and non-EU Norway stayed in the room when Ahmadinejad spoke
by: AFP and EJP     Updated: 24/Sep/2009 15:10
Cecilia Julin, Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman: “We’re not commenting on who left or who didn’t leave. I think there were other reasons for other countries that decided to leave.”

STOCKHOLM (AFP-EJP)—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not cross the “red line” that would have prompted a walkout by all EU states in his speech at the United Nations, the Swedish foreign ministry said Thursday.
“There were certain criteria set for when the EU would leave the room and those criteria were not fulfilled,” spokeswoman Cecilia Julin said.

Sweden currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

The criteria agreed in New York before the Iranian leader spoke included denying the Holocaust and calling for the annihilation of Israel, which Ahmadinejad avoided doing this time.

Even so, a number of EU states did walk out when Ahmadinejad attacked Israel, including Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary and Italy.

“We’re not commenting on who left or who didn’t leave,” Julin said. “I think there were other reasons for other countries that decided to leave.”

In his address, Ahmadinejad again took aim at Israel but without mentioning the country or Jews by name, referring only to the “Zionist regime.”

He accused Israel of “inhumane policies in Palestine,” including genocide, and seeking to “establish a new form of slavery, and harm the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the US, to attain its racist ambitions.”

Suggesting there was a Jewish conspiracy, Ahmadinejad added: “It is no longer acceptable that a small minority would dominate the politics, economy and culture of major parts of the world by its complicated networks.”

He accused Jews of seeking to “establish a new form of slavery, and harm the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the US, to attain its racist ambitions.”

Israel had called for a boycott of the speech, and was not present when the Iranian leader spoke.

Canada heeded the boycott call, while delegations from Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, New Zealand and the United States also left the room as Ahmadinejad began to rail against Israel, a European source said.

Earlier this week, the European Union presidency issued a statement condemning Ahmadinejad for his statements on the Holocaust and on Israel, saying such remarks “encourage anti-Semitism and hatred”.

Abercrombie & Fitch sued for not making an exception for Muslims.

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Arbitrary this Vs. arbitrary that. Group A makes up arbitrary rules of conduct or dress. They tell people, ‘if you want to be part of group A then you follow our rules and then all is well. If you do not, things are great also, you just do not get to be part of group A. For the most part, everyone in the world understands this basic tenant of group membership. Join, and be part, or do not join, and do not be part, or even, start your own group, make up your own rules.

lil-kim-burqa

Now a Muslim woman is suing Abercrombie and Fitch because they would not make an exception to their own dress code to accommodate the equally arbitrary dress codes of Muslims.

it is likely that governments will side with Muslims because it is religion, over a company who’s dress codes could be argued to be more practical and less arbitrary even, than religion, as any potential practical purpose for religious dress codes would likely be no longer applicable, while a clothing company typically knows what is in it’s own interests.

burka3_080310_ssv

In any case, this is one set of arbitrary dress codes Vs. another, and there is simply no exuse for government to come down on the side of one over another, except where rational issues of public safety are involved, like no copper underwear and pants for employees of Hydro companies for example. Some kind of state legislation would make sense in this case. However when four Muslim women sued UPS because UPS insisted that they obey safety dress codes, USP lost and the women won a fat settlement. Remember, UPS had asked these women not to wear pants because the traditional Muslim long loose evening gowns are unsafe on ladders, and UPS employees in that position are all required to go on ladders.

Here is the story as Time Magazine reports it.

Below is the Burka issue resolved as I would like to see it.

Continue Reading →

Canada has a lot to be proud of. Stephen Harper.

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The world is in an awful place when it is the rare leader who stands up for simple historical truth. Stephen Harper is a man who Canadians should take a great deal of pride in, not for saying what is simply true, (any leader should be expected to speak the truth and not be lauded for it, but be punished for lying) but for having the courage to stand against fashion when fashion goes against the facts and can advantage one a great deal.

There are more Arab votes than Jewish votes.

There are more Muslim votes than Jewish votes.

There are more irrational leftist votes that are marching with the narrative, and many of those are actually Jewish people, than Jewish votes who have a sense of self preservation.

But Stephen Harper elected to tell the truth and stand by that despite what it may and likely will cost him at the poles.

This is a good moment for Canada.
H/T LCC

Polygamy charges tossed; Bountiful bastards get God pass

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From The National Post

Why is this man smiling? I’d bet it’s because he’s just been given a free pass to go back to the ranch, resume his duties as a Christian fundamentalist and commit a fresh batch of rapes against more young ‘brides’ with a God pass in tow. Religion1, Virtue 0.

Polygamy charges thrown out against Bountiful leaders

Posted: September 23, 2009, 3:33 PM by Scott Maniquet

Criminal polygamy charges against B.C. religious leaders Winston Blackmore and Jim Oler have been thrown out.

B.C. Supreme Court Judge Sunni Stromberg-Stein made the ruling Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court, said Neil MacKenzie, a Crown spokesman.

Both Blackmore and Oler filed separate petitions in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to quash the charges against them.

Blackmore is the leader of the fundamentalist Mormon commune in Bountiful, B.C.

Blackmore, 52, and Oler, 44, were charged in January with one count each of practising polygamy, charges that were recommended by special prosecutor Terry Robertson — the third outside counsel hired by the attorney-general’s ministry to review evidence gathered during a two-year RCMP investigation.

The two previous lawyers had recommended that the anti-polygamy section of the Criminal Code be referred to the B.C. Court of Appeal to determine whether it breaches the constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.

In September 2006, following an investigation by the RCMP, Crown counsel decided not to lay any charges.

Then-attorney-general Wally Oppal decided a review of the matter was required and special prosecutor Richard Peck was appointed to conduct a charge assessment.

Peck decided not to lay any charges and Oppal appointed Len Doust, another prominent criminal defence lawyer, to review Peck’s decision. In April 2008 Doust confirmed Peck’s finding and declined to prosecute.

In June 2008, Robertson was then appointed by the ministry and in January he approved the charges against Blackmore and Oler.

Canwest News Service

photo: Winston Blackmore (Ian Smith/Canwest News Service)