25 September 2012

Free speech and hate speech: one rule for Muslims and another rule for others?

In light of the recent controversy courted by the Youtube video ‘Innocence of Muslims’ and the subsequent caricatures printed in the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, the Scottish paper, The Herald recently published an article by Abdel Bari Atwan exposing the inconsistency with which legislation on hate speech and the principle of free speech is applied.

Atwan writes: “Many Muslims are deeply concerned by a rising tide of "Islamophobia" – a prejudice which focuses on our religion. The world's 1.6 billion Muslims frame themselves in terms of their religion first and race or nationality second; this is why any insult to the Prophet is considered an insult to each individual in the Muslim nation, or umma. [ENGAGE] Read more