Islam Online says Norway Criminalizes Blasphemy, and I’m hoping this is just another Islamofascist fantasy.

DOHA, February, 15 2006, (IslamOnline.net) – The Norwegian parliament has amended the Penal Code to criminalize blasphemy in the wake of the republication of Danish cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by a Norwegian magazine, Christian and Muslim leaders in Norway said on Tuesday, February 14.

“Law 150-A, which has been approved by parliament, criminalizes blasphemy and clearly prohibits despising others or lampooning religions in any form of expression, including the use of photographs,” Norway’s Deputy Archbishop Oliva Howika told reporters after a meeting in Doha with Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

Howika was among a Norwegian delegation that also included the chairman of the Supreme Islamic Council in Norway, Mohamed Hamdan.

“Under the new law, the crime of blasphemy will be punished either by a fine or imprisonment,” Howika said, promising Qaradawi to fax him a copy of the law after being published in the country’s official gazette.

Hamdan regretted the burning of the Norwegian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus, but said the government had blamed the magazine for the violent reaction.

“The Norwegian government made it clear more than one time that it would not condone blasphemy,” he said.

UPDATE at 2/16/06 8:42:48 am:

Bruce Bawer emails a clarification of the typically muddled Islam Online story:

Re: the story about Norway reportedly criminalizing blasphemy. A new law isn’t necessary: Norway passed a disgraceful “discrimination law” last year that took effect in January of this year and that criminalizes offensive remarks about other people’s religions, among other things. I wrote about it here (sorry, it’s in Danish).

In addition, as some of your posters have noted, there’s an old blasphemy law that’s still on the books but hasn’t been enforced for decades.

“Oliva Howika” (the “deputy archbishop” in the article) is apparently a very mangled version of “Olav Dag Hauge.”