The heroic Lars Hedegaard has vowed to appeal his recent criminal conviction in Denmark.
As I’ve noted, Hedegaard’s alleged crime was discussing Muslim male family violence towards Muslim women and children.
In short, truth-telling and free speech have now been criminalized in Denmark. According to Hedegaard,
My crime is to have called attention to the horrific conditions of Muslim women and for my audacity the court has now enabled my detractors to label me a racist.
Muslims can say whatever they want with impunity. Just a few weeks ago Denmark opened its gates to the hate-spewing group Hizb ut-Tahrir, known for his advocacy of wife-beating and the killing of homosexuals. He was provided a platform in Copenhagen and nobody thought of dragging him into court.
I usually make a point of always stating that not all Muslims are terrorists, and that Muslims are often the first victims of Muslim and Islamist violence. Many Muslims are among the bravest of dissidents who are exposing and opposing extremist Islam.
Having said this, it is also true that, while not all Muslims are terrorists, almost all terrorists are Muslims. Is this a “racist” statement? Why? Muslims come in all colors, all classes, and hail from all geographic regions. Likewise, while men of every religion, every class, and every continent commit violence against women, the violence takes different forms; all violence is not all the same.
For example, I’ve documented that honor killings, which are a distinctive feature of Islamic gender apartheid, is very different from western domestically violent femicide. In Muslim-majority countries, honor killings are tolerated and celebrated. In Western countries, daughter-murder is rare and wife-killing is seen as a crime and prosecuted as such.
Even in India, where honor killings are rampant among Hindus as well as Muslims, the Indian government attempts to vigorously prosecute this crime. The media reports it. This is not the case in Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
Here is Hedegaard’s complete statement at the Free Speech press conference, held in Copenhagen earlier today:
Statement by Lars Hedegaard on his conviction for “hate speech”
Copenhagen, May 5, 2011
It is with great sadness I have to report that Denmark’s reputation as a haven of free speech and a bastion of resistance to sharia encroachment is irreparably tarnished. Denmark is my country and I used to be proud of it.
On May 3 the Eastern Superior Court in Copenhagen convicted me of hate speech under Denmark’s infamous Article 266 b of the penal code – a rubber provision that may be stretched to serve any political purpose dear to the hearts of the ruling elites.
My crime is to have called attention to the horrific conditions of Muslim women and for my audacity the court has now enabled my detractors to label me a racist.
Muslims can say whatever they want with impunity. Just a few weeks ago Denmark opened its gates to the hate-spewing preacher Bilal Philips, known for his advocacy of wife-beating and the killing of homosexuals. He was provided a platform in Copenhagen and nobody thought of dragging him into court.
Our authorities and their allies among the pc elites have chosen sides in the struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of darkness and so opted for the oppressors of their own people and against those deserving of their protection.
The real victims of this despicable case are freedom of speech and the tens of thousands of girls and women – Muslim as well as non-Muslim – whose plight may no longer be mentioned in my country for fear of legal prosecution and public denigration.
We cannot permit this outcome to stand. I have therefore decided to appeal my conviction to the Supreme Court and – if that is denied – to the European Court of Human Rights.
This is a fight for liberty against tyranny. It will be long and hard but losing is no option.
