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Facebook as a co-driver

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(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

Mashal Khan was only 25 years old. He studied journalism at the University of Mardan, Pakistan, and 13. April 2017 became his last day alive. The circumstances surrounding his tragic death are still unclear, but a mobile video shows how Khan was rightly lynched to death by a large mob of his fellow university students. He was shot, undressed, beaten and kicked, and thrown down from the third floor of the boarding house he was staying at. The mob had also tried to light him. Police eventually arrived, but they did not succeed in stopping the lynching. The police have been criticized for not doing enough to avert the murder. The police blamed the fact that they were inferior in size to the mob, which is hard to believe all the time Pakistani police are armed and in other respects do not use forceful means. In retrospect, it has also emerged that the university leadership may have played a role in stirring Khan's fellow students, after Khan a few days in advance made critical statements against the administration in a television interview.

Eight fellow students are now charged with the killing of Khan. The reason for the attack was loose rumors and charges that he posted blasphemous statements on Facebook. This was enough to be bestially killed by peers at the university.

Blasphemy is criminalized and can result in the death penalty in Pakistan and a number of other countries around the world. Penal laws for blasphemy and apostasy / apostasy are by far the most widespread in the extended Middle East and in North Africa.

Also in Europe and America there are countries with blasphemy laws, 16 and 29 percent respectively. However, no Western country has laws against apostasy. Back to Pakistan. The blasphemy laws there are subject to great controversy, and receive continuous massive criticism from both Pakistani and international human rights organizations. It is obvious that the laws, which were initially intended to prevent conflict between the various religious groups under British colonial rule in South Asia, today are primarily a cruel means of oppression directed at the country's religious and socially disadvantaged minorities. Especially atheists, ahmadiyyar, and Christians are exposed, but also liberal and free-thinking Muslims like Mashal Khan and his two close friends. The latter were also attacked, but escaped with their lives preserved.

There is weak legal certainty for minorities in Pakistan, and although the authorities have pledged that the killings are taken seriously and convicted of the guilty, it is still very serious that the police will not be able to protect people who are subjected to persecution and murder on the grounds of life. About 40 people await the death penalty or face life sentences for blasphemy in Pakistan, as well as at least 69 people have been killed over the past 17 years by extreme groups taking the law into their own hands. Neighboring India and Bangladesh also have a serious problem of lynching and killing motivated by notions of religious and sanctuary violations. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are all countries where problems of extremism and religiously motivated violence are increasing. While the rise of IS, Taliban and Al Qaeda-related groups is well known, the prevalence of Hindu extremism and nationalism has received less attention, despite the fact that they do not differ in principle from each other. Both override secular governance and run rough sectarian policies that jeopardize religious minorities. Given that India is gaining an increasingly prominent international position, it is noteworthy that this trend goes so far under the radar in our newsroom.

With an ever closer interwoven world through the internet, a very problematic aspect comes into Pakistan's blasphemy policy. The country's authorities have requested Facebook to assist in the investigation of blasphemous content on social media, and Facebook has reportedly signaled that they will send a delegation to Pakistan. This is something that we who use social media platforms should follow closely. We probably have minimal influence on the forces that suppress and kill in the name of religion in South Asia, but we as consumers on Facebook's commercial platform have a consumer responsibility. Facebook must not compromise human rights in its eagerness to be the largest player in the lucrative advertising market.

mashal khan and many other activists have been killed and persecuted for their freedom struggle on Facebook and similar channels. The least we can do is convey their message and thus make our own Facebook use more meaningful in a global perspective.

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