May 4, 2011
by Phyllis
Chesler
Freedom of speech and women’s rights just took a major hit in Denmark earlier today when the public prosecutor found Lars Hedegaard, the President of the Danish (and International) Free Press Society, guilty of “hate speech” under section 266b of the Danish penal code.
Hedegaard’s crime was to note “the great number of family rapes in areas
dominated by Muslim culture in
The prosecutor’s crime is far greater. Now, courtesy of this prosecution, it is officially
“racist” to tell the truth about sexual violence against women in
When feminists first brought rape and incest out of the closet, we were accused of being “strident man haters,” and “crazy” as well. We learned to say: Not all men rape but all rapists are men. To our horror, we eventually discovered that women sometimes rape or sexually abuse children. They rarely rape other adults or force unwanted sex on other women outside of a prison setting.
Islam is not a race. Muslims come in every conceivable color. The Danes, the Scandinavians, all
Hedegaard has just published a book, Muhammed’s Girls: Violence, Murder and Rape in the House of Islam. I was told that my work appears throughout. Will my work someday also be considered “hate speech” or “racism”?
I stand in solidarity with Hedegaard at this awful
moment. If the Danes and the Europeans do not take some very radical measures,
it will be just as Bat Ye-or predicted.
Post-Enlightenment
I am ready to talk to the prosecutor to condemn this utter insanity. And so should everyone else. The real racists, the infidel-haters, the Jew-haters, the woman-haters are not being condemned. Only those who expose them are.
Here is the press release I received earlier today:
President of the Free Press Society, Lars Hedegaard, declared guilty of racist statements
Lars Hedegaard was today found guilty of hate speech under Article 266b of the Danish penal code. The background is a good 35 minutes long interview to the site snaphanen.dk which Hedegaard gave in December 2009.
Here Hedegaard said, among other things, that “girls in Muslim families are raped by their uncles, their cousins or their dad.”
Lars Hedegaard has previously expressed regret if his statements gave the impression that he would accuse all Muslims of abusing their children.
The day after the interview he stressed that his opinions were about Islam and not Muslims.
In January Hedegaard was acquitted of racist statements in the lower court of Frederiksberg. The court believed that his statements were insulting, but the case was dismissed because he did not know that the interview, which took place during a Christmas lunch, would be published.
The prosecutor appealed the verdict to the
He is therefore declared guilty of racist statements.
Lars Hedegaard is sentenced to a fine of DKK 5,000 (approximately $1000).
Lars Hedegaard states: “The real losers today are freedom of speech and Muslim women. How can we speak up for them if we risk getting a state sanctioned label of racism?”
Lars Hedegaard will appeal the verdict.
266b of the Danish penal code:
“Whoever publicly or with the intent of public dissemination issues a pronouncement or other communication by which a group of persons are threatened, insulted or denigrated due to their race, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation is liable to a fine or incarceration for up to two years.“
Katrine Winkel Holm
Redaktør/Chief Editor