I have been writing for years about the alarming decline of free speech in France where citizens are routinely investigated and prosecuted for criticism groups or religions. We discussed this trend most recently with the prosecution of far right politician Marine Le Pen for her exercise of free speech against immigration. Now, France’s Supreme Court (the Court of Cassation) has upheld the shocking prosecution of twelve anti-Israel activists for protesting Israel and supporting the global boycott movement of Israeli goods. It is an appalling moment for a nation that once embodied the very essence of Western Civilization and freedoms.
Continue reading “French High Court Upholds Convictions Of 12 Protesters Who Called For Boycott Of Israel”
Category: Constitutional Law
The Islamic extremist attacks appear to be continuing unabated in Bangladesh where Muslim extremists are targeting the free speech community. The latest victim is publisher Faisal Arefin Deepan of the Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house, a truly courageous voice for free speech and human rights. Deepen was murdered in his office, the latest in a campaign of terror launched against writers and publishers. Earlier publisher Ahmed Rahim Tutul and two writers were shot and stabbed by three men in the office of the Shudhdhoswar publishing house.
There is an interesting en banc ruling out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit where the court held that Christian evangelists who were “preaching hate and denigration to a crowd of Muslims” are entitled to damages for being ejected from participation as protesters in the 2012 Arab International Festival. The case raises the long-standing concern over the “heckler’s veto” where a speaker is silenced to appease an angry mob or crowd. The case is Bible Believers v. Wayne County, 2015 FED App. 0258P (6th Cir. 2015)
Those crazy guys from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Saudi Arabia are at it again. The Saudi religious police have long been viewed internationally as menacing clowns who beat and arrest people deemed immoral under the country’s medieval Sharia law. Indeed, it is often difficult to distinguish the enforcement of Islamic values by the Saudis from stories in The Onion. This is another such case. Saudi Arabian actor Abdul Aziz Al Kassar has been arrested in a shopping mall for “taking selfies with female fans.” That’s right, satanic selfies.
There is an interesting controversy brewing between academics and Jewish groups in Germany as the deadline approaches for the end of the copyright over Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”, the book that laid the foundation for the Nazi takeover and ultimately the genocidal crimes of World War II. For seven decades, the copyright has rested with with Bravarian officials who have prevented the publication of the work. Now, academics are arguing that the book should be reprinted due to its obvious historical significance. However, Jewish and other groups are demanding a continuation of the ban on reprints.
Continue reading “Mein Copyright: Controversy Erupts Over The Reprinting Of Hitler’s Infamous Work”
The video below has caused a public outcry after a South Carolina school resource officer identified as Richland County Sheriff’s Department Senior Deputy Ben Fields is shown tossing a female high school student to the floor and dragging her from a classroom after she refused to get up and leave with him. Fields has been placed on paid administrative leave.
There is a new example of how free speech values are declining in England, particularly on college campuses this week. Students at Cardiff University launched an online petition trying to bar Germaine Greer, the Australian feminist author, from speaking at the school next month because of her views on transgender women. Rather than recognize that Greer has an opinion to share as part of the pluralistic academic forum, these students sought to bar her from sharing her views and engaging in a debate in the area. To its credit, the university has thus far stayed committed to free speech and refuses to bar Greer.
Our close ally, Egypt, continues to lay waste to free speech this month with the absurd sentencing of a Facebook user to three years in jail for simply putting Mickey Mouse ears on a picture of president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Amr Nohan was charged with an “attempt to overthrow the regime” for the comical Facebook posting and tried in a military court.
The meetings this week between President Xi Jinping and British leaders came with a clear instruction from the Communist regime: do not raise the issue of human rights. The Chinese told British diplomats that any questioning about the regime’s continued denial of basic human rights would be viewed as a hostile act. As always, the Chinese just want to talk about business and not people. What is most striking is that many countries have become so dependent on China that they follow such outrageous dictates.
Continue reading “China to Britain: Do No Raise Human Rights Or Risk Ruining “Golden” Relationship”
This afternoon, Judge Rosemary Collyer issued her ruling on the motion by the Administration to forego a ruling on the merits in the United States House of Representatives v. Burwell, a challenge brought by the House to unilateral action taken by the Administration under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). After losing its motion to dismiss the case on standing grounds, the Administration sought (over the objections of the House) to remove the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia without ruling on the merits of the case. Judge Collyer denied the motion and set the case for final briefing and ultimately a final ruling.
Continue reading “FEDERAL COURT DENIES ADMINISTRATION MOTION AND SETS ACA CASE FOR FINAL RULING”
The United House of Prayer on M Street NW in Washington, D.C. has a curious view of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. The Church has claimed that the city is denying the freedom of religion by seeking to add a bike lane on one side of its street. While there is a rich literature on the scope of the protections afforded to religious practices, it is perfectly delusional to claim that the addition of a bike lane violates “constitutionally protected rights of religious freedom and equal protection of the laws.”
Continue reading “D.C. Church Claims Bike Lane Would Violate Freedom Of Religion”
There is an interesting criminal case in Canada where American Peter Hasler, 25, of Murrells Inlet, S.C., is under arrest for possession of child pornography. However, the images were not of human beings but cartoon characters. Canada treats sexual cartoon images as pornography – a view widely rejected in the United States as inimical to free speech protections.
We previously discussed the truly bizarre scene of having Saudi Arabia sit on the UN Human Rights Council despite being one of the most infamous violators of human rights. As if to remind the world of the crushing irony, Saudi Arabia has issued a statement telling the world that it has no business objecting to the planned execution of a religious dissent. The Saudi Arabian embassy in the UK has denounced “any form of interference in its internal affairs” regarding the case of 21-year-old dissident Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who has been sentenced to death by beheading for engaging in pro-democracy protests.
There is another controversy brewing in California over allegations that the University of California at Berkeley is again trying to circumvent a state law that bars the use of race in educational decisions. Berkeley has announced a $20 million fund to endow scholarships for African-American students and to hire a diverse faculty. Critics say that it clearly runs afoul of the law and is another example the refusal of administrators to comply with a state policy for absolute racially blind decision-making in admissions and other educations decision making.
Continue reading “Berkeley Under Fire For New Race-Based Program”
State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in Chicago has long been criticized for her efforts to bar the public filming of police officers, bizarre positions, and anti-civil liberties positions. Now she is again under fire for refusing to re-open four cases that were identified in an independent investigation as “more likely than not” resulting in the conviction of innocent men.