Charlie Hebdo cleared
First reports are filtering through from the net that Charlie Hebdo has been cleared of the charge of inciting hatred. As expected, the court accepted CH’s defence that the cartoons were attacking Islamic terrorism and not Muslims in general.
Union of Islamic Organizations in France (UOIF) – according to Philippe Val the more radical of the two bodies which filed the suit – has vowed to appeal the decision. They seem to have a taste for public humiliation, don’t they?
UPDATE: Abdurahman Jafar of the Muslim Council of Britain almost welcomed the decision, but displayed an all-too-common confusion about the nature of religion and race in his statement:
I don’t think it was ever a strong case. It’s about the right to publish and freedom of expression. It’s about respecting certain cultural, racial norms and sensitivities. Personally, I think it’s the right decision. It’s not a legal issue; it’s a moral one.
Respecting “racial norms”? In what way is getting upset about a drawing a “racial norm”?
They never learn. Makes me wonder what they teach in Muslim schools…
ni dieu ni maitre
Would a “racial norm” be George Wendt appearing in Cheers in B&W Minstrel garb, perhaps??
sorry.
I couldn’t help it.
It was there.
🙂