Freedom Folks: When Hugs Are Illegal?

Source: suntimes

Only criminals will hug!

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Islamic clerics at a radical mosque in Pakistan's capital have demanded the tourism minister be fired for hugging a foreign man, saying she committed a ''great sin.''

Minister of Tourism Nilofar Bakhtiar rejected the Taliban-style edict Monday and said her family and friends were concerned for her safety.

Photos in the Pakistani media have shown Bakhtiar being helped by a male instructor during a charity parachute jump in France last month to raise money for victims of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Another picture shows a woman -- apparently Bakhtiar -- hugging the instructor.

This was ''an illegitimate and forbidden act,'' the clerics said in their edict, or fatwa.

''Without any doubt, she has committed a great sin,'' the fatwa said. It declared that Muslim women must stay at home and must not venture out uncovered.

Those wacky savages!