Jailed Palestinian atheist apologizes for anti-Islam remarks

A Palestinian atheist jailed for more than a month for sharing his anti-Islam views on the Internet has apologized for offending Muslims, and a Palestinian military spokesman said he expected "positive" developments in the case.

Rights groups have criticized his arrest as a demonstration of the limits on free speech under the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which has trawled Internet sites like Facebook as part of a crackdown on dissent and unpopular views. The 26-year-old blogger, Walid Husayin, who had called the Muslim God a "primitive Bedouin" and Islam a religion of "irrationality and ignorance," apologized in a letter to his family and to all Palestinians and sought forgiveness for what he called his "stupidity." (AP)