Free Republic

A father criticised a police force today for launching an investigation after his ten-year-old son allegedly called a schoolfriend "gay" in an email. Company director Alan Rawlinson said he was astounded after two police officers arrived at his home in Bold Heath, Cheshire, to speak to his son George. The officers were called earlier this month after a parent complained that George had called her son a "gay boy" in an email. Mr Rawlinson, 41, said: "I could not believe what I was hearing when the officers told me. "They told me they considered it a very serious offence, I...

'Political correctness is killing our freedoms' By Bruno Waterfield Last Updated: 1:21am GMT 22/03/2007 Europe's citizens must be on their guard against political correctness and moralising politicians, says the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. The former Portuguese premier and centre-Right politician is concerned that freedom can be the loser in European culture wars over climate change, cheap air travel, Islam and free speech. "We should be aware of people who, sometimes for good reasons, try to establish what I call private moral codes, for this or that, be it climate change, religious...

Modern Blasphemy By PHILIPPE VAL March 21, 2007; Page A19 PARIS -- A French court is tomorrow expected to decide whether I and the newspaper I edit, Charlie Hebdo, committed a crime by publishing cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. If the court finds me guilty of "publicly abusing a group of people because of their religion," in effect racism, as the organizations of French Muslims that are plaintiffs in this case claim, I could be imprisoned for six months and fined thousands of euros. A great deal is at stake, for free speech in France and Europe, in the outcome...

The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday. The council chose an unfortunate anniversary to publish its decision approving the law, which came exactly 16 years after Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George Holliday on the night of March 3, 1991. The officers’ acquittal at the...

ISTANBUL, Turkey (BP)-A Turkish prosecutor has filed criminal charges against two converts to Christianity, accusing them of "insulting Turkishness," inciting hatred against Islam and secretly compiling data on private citizens for a local Bible correspondence course, according to an Oct. 31 report by Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency based in Santa Ana, Calif. Hakan Tastan, 37, and Turan Topal, 46, joined the ranks of 97 other Turkish citizens taken to court in the last 16 months over alleged violations of the country's controversial Article 301 restricting freedom of speech, Compass reported. The attorney for the two Christians, Haydar...

BRITISH National Party leader Nick Griffin told a crowd that Islam was a "wicked, vicious faith" and Asian Muslims were turning Britain into a multiracial hell as they tried to conquer the country, a court heard yesterday. Griffin urged the gathering in Keighley, West Yorkshire, to vote BNP to ensure "the British people really realise the evil of what these people have done to our country". The 47-year-old BNP chairman and fellow party activist Mark Collett face a series of charges arising out of speeches filmed by BBC journalist Jason Gwynne, who posed as a BNP supporter in Bradford, for...

British National Party leader Nick Griffin told a crowd that Islam was a "wicked, vicious faith" and Asian Muslims were turning Britain into a multiracial hell as they tried to conquer the country, a court heard today. Griffin urged the gathering in Keighley, West Yorkshire, to vote BNP to ensure "the British people really realise the evil of what these people have done to our country". The 47-year-old BNP chairman and fellow party activist Mark Collett face a series of charges arising out of speeches filmed by BBC journalist Jason Gwynne, who posed as a BNP supporter in Bradford, for...

Now council bans the use of 'political correctness' at workBy CHRIS BROOKE Last updated at 10:41am on 1st November 2006  Cllr Robert Light: Kirklees council leader blamed his political opponents and said the booklet was no longer being used by council staff A council has warned staff against using the phrase 'political correctness' at work because it might offend people. A booklet outlining 'equality' policy to council workers claims using the term at work can be damaging and even linked it to the Ku Klux Klan. See also... Council worker paid £91,000 to fix the lights  The bizarre publication...

A protest in London against the publication of a cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist incensed an Aberporth man, who painted an anti-Muslim slogan on a white sheet and draped it over his garden fence. The words in bold red paint stated: "Kill all Muslims who threaten us and our way of life. Enoch Powell was right." Father of two Gary John Mathewson, who was arrested for displaying the banner, told a court: "This won't stop until there is a Muslim president in the White House." continued... And referring to MP Jack Straw questioning whether Muslim women should...

A teenage schoolgirl was arrested by police for racism after refusing to sit with a group of Asian students because some of them did not speak English. Codie Stott's family claim she was forced to spend three-and-a-half hours in a police cell after she was reported by her teachers. Yesterday the 14-year-old - who was released without charge - said it had been a simple matter of common sense and accused the school and police of an over-the-top reaction. The incident happened in the same local education authority where a ten-year-old boy was prosecuted earlier this year for calling a...

A German court has sentenced a man to a one year suspended sentence for trying to sell toilet paper with the word 'koran' on it to mosques. In an accompanying letter the 61 year old Manfred van H called the koran a 'terrorists cookbook'. The court found him guilty of insulting the islamic belief and of disturbing the public order. Van H sent the toilet paper to fifteen mosques, tv stations, and magazines. With the profits Van H wanted to erect a monument to those that have died at the hands of islamic terror. Iran complained to the German ministry...

A German court on Thursday convicted a businessman of insulting Islam by printing the word "Koran" on toilet paper and offering it to mosques. The 61-year-old man, identified only as Manfred van H., was given a one-year jail sentence, suspended for five years, and ordered to complete 300 hours of community service, a district court in the western German town of Luedinghausen ruled. The conviction comes after a Danish newspaper printed cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad -- sparking violent protests around the world from Muslims who saw the images as sacrilegious and an attack on their beliefs. Manfred van H....

Thousands protest against prophet cartoons (Filed: 11/02/2006) Several thousand Muslims turned out to demonstrate against the controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed - but the numbers were far lower than the 30,000 the organisers hoped would take part. The demonstration passed off peacefully They gathered in London's Trafalgar Square holding banners proclaiming: "United Against Incitement And Islamophobia." There were fears that the rally, backed by Mayor Ken Livingstone and a coalition of moderate Muslim groups, would be disrupted by extremist factions. But the majority of people who turned out said they had come to prove that Islam was peaceful and...

BERLIN A German man will go on trial February 23rd for printing the name of the Quran on toilet paper and offering it for sale to mosques and media organizations. Authorities say the man called Islam's holy book a "cookbook for terrorists" which he said calls for acts of violence. He said he wanted to use money from the toilet paper sales to fund a memorial for victims of what he called Islamic terror. The offer led to telephone death threats against him. Prosecutors say the man's actions overstepped the legally guaranteed freedom to criticize other religions.

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union may try to draw up a media code of conduct to avoid a repeat of the furor caused by the publication across Europe of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, an EU commissioner said on Thursday. In an interview with Britain's Daily Telegraph, EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said the charter would encourage the media to show "prudence" when covering religion. "The press will give the Muslim world the message: We are aware of the consequences of exercising the right of free expression," he told the newspaper. "We can and we are ready...

BNP duo to face race hate retrial BNP leader Nick Griffin will face a retrial on two race hate charges after being cleared by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of two other charges. Party activist Mark Collett, who was acquitted of four similar charges, will also stand trial again on a further four race hate charges. Mr Griffin, 44, and Mr Collett, 24, had denied using words intended to stir up hatred in West Yorkshire in 2004. The jury was sent home after failing to reach verdicts on all of the charges. The Crown Prosecution Service later said it...

Arts world hails hate law defeat Leading British writers and comedians have welcomed the defeat of a proposed religious hatred law, which they say would have stifled freedom of speech. Comedian Rowan Atkinson said he was pleased the right to "criticise and ridicule" religions was not banned. Authors Salman Rushdie, Philip Pullman and Hanif Kureishi also celebrated the government's narrow defeat. The law will still come into effect, but will be a watered-down version of the bill the government had wanted. It will be illegal to intentionally use "threatening" words and behaviour to stir up hatred, but saying things that...

A jury at Leeds Crown Court has cleared BNP leader Nick Griffin of two racial hatred charges and BNP activist Mark Collett of four others. The jury has been discharged after failing to reach verdicts on the remaining charges - four against Mr Collett and two against Mr Griffin. Mr Griffin, 44, and Mr Collett, 24, had denied using words intended to stir up hatred in West Yorkshire in 2004. Mr Griffin said the verdicts were a "tremendous victory for freedom". Their six speeches were filmed by an undercover BBC journalist for a documentary on the BNP. Mr Griffin told...

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair was defeated today when parts of his government's plans to ban incitement to religious hatred were voted down in the House of Commons. Amendments put forward by the House of Lords were accepted by narrow majorities of 10 and one, although the government has a theoretical majority of 65 over the opposition parties. The legislation had attracted criticism as muzzling free speech. It would have made incitement to religious hatred punishable by a jail term of up to seven years. Junior Home Office minister Paul Goggins told the Commons: ``We are seeking to close a...

Ministers lose religious bill bid The government has suffered two shock defeats over attempts to overturn Lords changes to the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. In a blow to Tony Blair's authority, MPs voted by 288 votes to 278 to back a key Lords amendment to the bill, which targets incitement to religious hatred. The prime minister voted in the first division but not in the second, which was lost by one vote. Home Secretary Charles Clarke told MPs the bill would now become law. Mr Clarke claimed what had happened had been "a purely political act" by Tories,...