26 September 2015

'Free speech is dead!': Reaction after Warwick University Students’ Union bans speaker over Islam offence fears

Telegraph readers have hit out after an ex-Muslim campaigner was banned from speaking at Warwick University when the students’ union said it was concerned she could incite hatred or offend Islam.

Coventry residents took to social media to give their views after Maryam Namazie, a human rights campaigner and member of the Council of Ex-Muslims, was invited to Warwick University’s Students’ Union by Warwick Atheists, Secularists and Humanists’ Society to give a talk on October 28.

Namazie's invitation was later blocked by the university’s students’ union, and said: “This is because after researching both her and her organisation, a number of flags have been raised. We have a duty of care to conduct a risk assessment for each speaker who wishes to come to campus.

“There a number of articles written both by the speaker and by others about the speaker that indicate that she is highly inflammatory, and could incite hatred on campus. This is in contravention of our external speaker policy.” [Coventry Telegraph] Read more