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In the United States of America, all citizens have the choice of freedom: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of press are just few of the many. We also have laws and amendments to help protect these beneficial privileges. Unfortunately, not all countries have this freedom, including the freedom of press, without paying a suitable price for -- if it is not what majority of the people want to hear, that is. Isioma Daniel, who is a young Christian woman journalist in her young twenties, recently returned from a journalism course at Britain's University of Lancaster. She wrote a newspaper article that left many Nigerian Muslims enraged (Nigerian journalist…). Her article suggested that the Prophet Mohammad probably would have married one of the many contestants in the Miss World beauty contest, which was to have been staged in Nigeria (Masland). Mention of the Prophet Mohammed's vulnerability to female attraction irritated Muslim feeling across northern Nigeria. In the riots that followed, Christian and Muslim gangs roamed the city of Kaduna, murdering families of the opposite religion. The fighting began after the Lagos-based ThisDay newspaper published an article on November 16 saying Islam's founding prophet would have approved of the pageant. The regional governor warned rioters would be shot on sight Sunday after four days of religious violence over the Miss World pageant in which killed over 250 people (Ahemba). Hundreds of people fled the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna (Ahemba). The article that led to the riots released Muslims' criticisms that the Miss World pageant, scheduled for Nigeria because it is the home of last year's winner, is immoral.
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