An amendment has been submitted to Parliament to revise the Penal Code, seeking to increase the penalties for inciting religious hatred and committing acts against Islam by reclassifying them as Class 4 felonies.
While the Religious Unity Act is currently in effect, Section 617 of the Penal Code—the primary framework for criminal justice—presently classifies acts against Islam as Class 1 misdemeanours.
Under the existing legal framework, the baseline sentence for this offence is four months and 24 days in prison. Furthermore, because it is classified as a misdemeanour, offenders currently have the opportunity to pay fines instead of serving jail time or to seek release on bail.
However, the government-proposed amendment stipulates that premeditated acts intended to incite hatred against Islam or disrupt religious unity among the public will be elevated to Class 4 felonies.
This reclassification carries a baseline prison sentence of one year and seven months, which can be increased to four years depending on the severity of the circumstances. In other instances, the offence would be categorised as a Class 5 felony, punishable by a prison term ranging from nine months to two years.
By elevating these offences to felonies, the amendment will toughen the legal consequences, effectively narrowing the availability of bail and the leniency of fines that were previously accessible under the misdemeanour classification.
The provisions to increase penalties for disrupting religious unity were included in a broader bill submitted by the government, which also proposes severe punishments for acts deemed damaging to the national economy or inciting genocide—measures seen as an attempt to stifle criticism surrounding the Rasmalé project.
