Excerpt:
The Council on American Islamic Relations has announced its strong repudiation of a conviction in absentia from an Egyptian court that sentences a Florida pastor and seven Egyptian Christians to death. The court announced the sentences on Wednesday.
The Rev. Terry Jones, who is pastor of Dove World Outreach Center, a church in Gainesville, is one of the people convicted. He is associated with the film "Innocence of Muslims," which many people in countries with large Muslim populations found offensive because of its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad as a pedophile and bumbler.
"We repudiate this un-Islamic attempt to impose the death sentence for blasphemy, a sentence that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself never imposed, despite being attacked both rhetorically and physically," said Nihad Awad, CAIR's national executive director.