Farzana Hassan, the newly elected president of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a liberal group, is being subjected to fatwas of apostasy by neoconservative Islamists who are said to be running riot in the religiously tolerant Canada. Hassan has asked Ontario provincial authorities to take note of the threats being made to progressive Muslims like her and to preempt any possible attacks. | 'neoconservative Islamists'?? There's a loaded message. They're actually called 'fascists'. |
The Muslim Canadian Congress is asking Ontario’s attorney general to include the utterance of such allegations under existing hate crime laws. “Killing a fellow Muslim accused of apostasy is considered an act of religiosity,” according to the group’s secretary general Munir Pervaiz. The group has named the Canadian Islamic Congress leaders like Elmasry among those inciting “passionate reactions.”
“When Canadian Muslims find out that allegations of blasphemy and apostasy come under hate crime laws ... you will hear the voices of moderate and progressive Muslims much more,” Raheel Raza, interfaith affairs director of the Muslim Canadian Congress told the newspaper Ottawa Citizen.