Imran Firasat

Imran Firasat
Born1978 (age 46–47)
Pakistan
OccupationFilmmaker
Known forCriticism of Islam

Imran Firasat (born 1978) is a Pakistani Islam-critical filmmaker. Born in a Muslim family, he renounced Islam and converted to Christianity. He lives in Spain,[1] and has been described as part of the counter-jihad movement.[2]

Biography

Early life and activities

Firasat was born into a Muslim family in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. After moving in with his Buddhist wife, he says he faced harassment, and was detained by police who tortured him.[3] The couple fled to Spain as a result, obtaining political asylum in 2006.[4] There, he began blogging and giving interviews denouncing Islam.[3]

He then started getting death threats and was physically assaulted.[3] He subsequently fled to his wife's home country of Indonesia in 2010,[4] where he was detained over alleged blasphemy against Islam. He was then deported by Indonesian police and again returned to Spain.[3] His police record includes an Indonesian warrant for kidnap and murder. He rejects the murder charge saying that it was made up due to his criticism of Islam.[1]

The Innocent Prophet

Following the 2012 Benghazi attack, Firasat made the documentary The Innocent Prophet in partnership with American Quran-burning pastor Terry Jones.[3] The movie among other things asks whether Mohammed "was a child molester and a murderer." The governments of Belgium, France and the US expressed their concern over the ramifications the release of the video could produce. A Madrid court banned the release of the film, and Spain rescinded his asylum status on "grounds of a threat to the security of the state" as a result,[5][6] stating that Firasat would be arrested if the film was shown.[7]

Aisha and Muhammad

In July 2014, a new animated film that he co-produced with Danish Lars Hedegaard entitled Aisha and Muhammad was released. The film focuses on the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his marriage to the six-year-old Aisha.[8] Days later he travelled to Norway to seek asylum, but was detained and deported back to Spain.[9] He was arrested in Spain until he was released in December 2014.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Gjestad, Fred C. (15 December 2014). "Islamkritikeren Imran Firasat er løslatt". Dagen (in Norwegian).
  2. ^ Bale, Jeffrey M. (October 2013). "Denying the Link between Islamist Ideology and Jihadist Terrorism "Political Correctness" and the Undermining of Counterterrorism". Perspectives on Terrorism. 7 (5). Terrorism Research Institute: 37. JSTOR 26297006.
  3. ^ a b c d e Taylor, Adam (30 November 2012). "Get Ready For A Follow-Up To The Anti-Islamic Film That Sparked Protests Around The World". Business Insider.
  4. ^ a b Terradillos, Ana (17 November 2014). "La Audiencia autoriza la extradición de un pakistaní por criticar al Islam". Cadena SER (in Spanish).
  5. ^ "Spain revokes asylum status of anti-Islam filmmaker". El País. 27 December 2012.
  6. ^ "Terror fears over anti-Islam film by asylum seeker in Spain". El País. 9 December 2012.
  7. ^ "El paquistaní afincado en España será detenido si difunde el vídeo contra Mahoma". ABC España (in Spanish). 13 December 2012.
  8. ^ Wenande, Christian (3 July 2014). "Lars Hedegaard among the producers of new anti-Islam animation". The Copenhagen Post. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014.
  9. ^ Castello, Claudio (18 August 2014). "Uttransportert islam-kritiker i livsfare". Utrop (in Norwegian).