Lal Masjid mullah Maulana Abdul Aziz has issued a death fatwa against staff at a magazine for publishing a fashion-shoot advertisement entitled Adam and Eve. The fatwa has been issued against the chief editor, publisher and other staffers of an English language magazine called Octane. “In the magazine’s June edition blasphemy was committed against Hazrat (Prophet) Adam and Eve... Those responsible for the magazine are liable to death,” Aziz said in a statement.The offending photographs were titled Adam and Eve – Apple the Bone of Contention, and showed two models in designer-wear holding an apple. Octane’s editor, Zubair Kasuri, said it was just a commercial advertisement and contained nothing blasphemous, and had been published before by other magazines. “But even then if it creates any misunderstanding or conveys any wrong perception, we are ready to apologise.”
The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration, meanwhile, has confiscated the controversial edition of the magazine and all shopkeepers have been prohibited from selling it. The pictures are likely to “disseminate obscenity in society,” said a press note on Saturday. The ICT administration is also urging the Punjab government to ban the issuance and publication of the magazine and cancel its declaration, the release added. “A clear message was conveyed to the publishers to refrain from indulging in any activity hurting the sentiments of any segment of society,” it said. The ICT administration has registered an FIR on the publication of obscene material.