Pak bans magazine following fatwa

A cleric issues a fatwa ordering the killing of the editor and the publisher of a local fashion magazine for publishing allegedly objectionable pictures of Adam and Eve.

A cleric has issued a fatwa ordering the killing of the editor and the publisher of a local fashion magazine for publishing allegedly objectionable pictures of Adam and Eve, after which Pakistani authorities banned the sale of its latest issue.

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The magazine Octane carried the images of Adam and Eve under the caption 'Apple: The Bone of Contention' in its June edition.

Police lodged a case against the monthly magazine on the charge of publishing "obscene" pictures after the head cleric of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, issued the fatwa on Saturday at the mosque.

But, Masjid administrator Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi on Sunday demanded that the charge of blasphemy be brought against the editor and the publisher.

"The police have charged them for publishing vulgar pictures but not under blasphemy laws," he told newspersons in Islamabad, claiming the accused persons have committed a grave sin.

Magazine editor Zubair Kasuri, however, argued that it was just an advertisement which was also published by others earlier. He claimed that there was nothing blasphemous about it. "But if it created any misunderstandings, we are ready to apologise," he said.

In fact, the crackdown came after the head cleric was quoted by local media yesterday as saying, "Who will kill the chief editor and chief publisher of monthly Octane that published snaps of Hazrat Adam and Eve in their June publication."