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Kilroy escapes prosecution for anti-Arab article (UK)
The Guardian (UK) ^ | 7-01-05 | Matthew Tempest and agencies

Posted on 07/01/2004 9:47:21 AM PDT by veronica

Robert Kilroy-Silk will not face prosecution over his inflammatory Sunday Express article condemning the Arab people as "limb-amputators and women repressors", it was revealed today.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) declared it could not establish that Mr Kilroy-Silk, who was forced to quit his lucrative daytime BBC TV show after the piece appeared and has since become an MEP for the Europhobic UK Independence party, had intended to stir up racial hatred with the article.

However, it did find that the piece, entitled "We Owe Arabs Nothing", was insulting and abusive to Arab people.

Sue Taylor, head of division for the CPS casework directorate, said: "I acknowledge that many people found this article shocking and abusive and were deeply insulted by it.

"We took their concerns very seriously and spent some time considering in depth whether the article committed a criminal offence.

"As part of that process we asked senior independent counsel for advice.

"But however offensive the material might be, we are constrained by law as to what we can and cannot prosecute and in this case we have had to advise the police that a criminal offence has not been committed."

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "Based on the advice from the CPS we will not be taking any further action."

The article was published on January 4 and was a repeat of a piece which ran in April last year.

The column sparked a national outrage, with Muslim leaders labelling Mr Kilroy-Silk "breathtakingly racist".

The furore led to the BBC suspending his daytime chat show, which he had hosted for 17 years, and the presenter resigned shortly afterwards.

But even as he stepped down he remained unrepentant, saying: "I have been overwhelmed by the support from the general public, and I continue to believe that it is my right to express my views, however uncomfortable they may be."

He insisted he was not racist and went on to argue he had a right to say "there are Arab states that are evil, despotic and treat women abominably".

A CPS spokesman said that for any prosecution to succeed under section 18 of the Public Order Act prosecutors would have to demonstrate that Mr Kilroy-Silk intended to stir up racial hatred or that his action was likely to stir up racial hatred.

Ms Taylor added: "We do not think that there is a reasonably good prospect of establishing that Mr Kilroy-Silk intended to stir up racial hatred by the publication of the article.

"We are aware that he would have a strong argument to say that this was not his purpose, but rather that he intended to criticise various regimes."

She said that because the April 2003 article did not generate an official complaint there was little prospect of establishing the column was likely to stir racial hatred.

The CPS also advised that the article, though insulting and abusive to Arab people, could not be described as threatening under the act.

Mr Kilroy-Silk subsequently joined Ukip and won a East Midlands seat in the European parliament in last month's elections.

At his press conference launch of the campaign he declared he "did not trust the Spanish", and has since said his intention is to "wreck" the parliament and appear in Brussels as little as is possible.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bbc; hatespeech; kilroysilk

1 posted on 07/01/2004 9:47:21 AM PDT by veronica
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To: veronica

2 posted on 07/01/2004 9:51:25 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("Forth now! And fear no Darkness!!")
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To: veronica

>>Robert Kilroy-Silk will not face prosecution over his inflammatory Sunday Express article condemning the Arab people as "limb-amputators and women repressors", it was revealed today. <<

Damn. . .truth actually IS a defense. . .


3 posted on 07/01/2004 9:53:45 AM PDT by Gunrunner2
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To: ItsOurTimeNow

"Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto."


4 posted on 07/01/2004 9:56:59 AM PDT by Constitution Day (Member, Burger-Eating War Monkeys, Rapid Response Digital Brown Shirts, NLC™)
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To: Constitution Day

Styx rules!


5 posted on 07/01/2004 9:59:59 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("Forth now! And fear no Darkness!!")
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE - We Owe Arabs Nothing
6 posted on 07/01/2004 10:01:51 AM PDT by veronica (Hate-triotism, the religion of leftists, liberals, anti-semites, and other cranks...)
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To: ItsOurTimeNow
I used to really like them back in the day, but haven't heard them in years.
Maybe I will have to dust off my turntable! :)
7 posted on 07/01/2004 10:02:05 AM PDT by Constitution Day (Member, Burger-Eating War Monkeys, Rapid Response Digital Brown Shirts, NLC™)
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To: veronica
But even as he stepped down he remained unrepentant, saying: "I have been overwhelmed by the support from the general public..."

The funny thing is, most Brits probably understand that he wasn't being 'racist', or purveying 'hate', or any of that stuff. But, like the rest of Europe and increasingly here in the US, the far-Left has become a kind of ruling class that just doesn't see it that way. And just doesn't give a darn how the general populace feels about anything.

8 posted on 07/01/2004 10:06:30 AM PDT by Starve The Beast (I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused)
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To: veronica

Thought Police Bump.


9 posted on 07/01/2004 10:08:15 AM PDT by bootyist-monk (<--------------------- Republican Attack Machine)
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To: Constitution Day
Maybe I will have to dust off my turntable!

Only if you have the monstrous headphones that plug into the unit!

Only then can I enjoy my old LP's

10 posted on 07/01/2004 10:10:28 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("Forth now! And fear no Darkness!!")
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: veronica

Potential charges over "inflammatory" political rhetoric and yet the most vulgar and vile porn is permitted everywhere. Totalitarianism is coming faster than I thought. Freedom of speech is being turned on its head. How long before we see this sort of stuff happening in this country?


12 posted on 07/01/2004 10:35:32 AM PDT by Antoninus (Federal Marriage Amendment, NOW!)
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To: veronica

The "good" news is that he won't get in trouble.

The bad news is that they even "investigated" him in the first place.

These kinds of intimidation tactics will be in the backs of the minds of those who would otherwise criticize Arab/Muslim practices in public.


13 posted on 07/01/2004 10:38:44 AM PDT by Guillermo (France Sucks)
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To: veronica
How much BS gets into the British press calling Americans all forms of slander?
14 posted on 07/01/2004 11:07:22 AM PDT by atomicpossum (I give up! Entropy, you win!)
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To: veronica

Thank you for posting the link to that excellent article. My God, it is so refreshing to read a self-evident truth. The Arabs and the Muslims are evil. It's too bad Ronald Reagan weren't President after 9/11 or he'd have dealt with the little bastards in a way they'd understand. I only hope that the West will somehow wake up and realize that these people are fighting just another battle in a war that they started the day after Mohammed was cold in his grave. There will never be peace so long as there is one person breathing who subscribes to the madness promulgated by that seventh century child molester.


15 posted on 07/01/2004 11:16:07 AM PDT by PeterFinn
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