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Another Nail in The Coffin for Free Speech in EU

posted by martyb on Tuesday November 13 2018, @12:50PM   
from the Room-101-dept dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

As the days go by our hard won freedoms and liberty are slowly being eroded. In Europe a crushing blow has been made to freedom of speech with a European Court of Human Rights upholding a conviction for saying that the person known as Muhammad ten centuries ago was technically a paedophile based on information in historical texts. The statement was made in reference to Muhammad's marriage to a six year old child name called Aisha. The court found that “Presenting objects of religious worship in a provocative way capable of hurting the feelings of the followers of that religion could be conceived as a malicious violation of the spirit of tolerance, which was one of the bases of a democratic society.”. In giving its ruling that "Muhammad was not a worthy subject of worship" the court has additionally demonstrated a complete misunderstanding as to the religion involved which worships "Allah", a word meaning 'God', not 'Muhammad' who claimed to be a prophet of this god. Freedom of speech is dying.

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Original Submission

• Re:Direct source link Re:Direct source link (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @03:42PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @03:42PM (#761326)

  you miss the point (as did the author of the article).

  The Austrian court argued that marriage (even consumated) to a minor, especially in said historical setting, is not the same as being a paedophile (That might not agree with your definition though). To put this modern moniker on a person living in that time was therefore incorrect, as he probably did not marry her because he wanted to have sex with minors. And there were many hints that she did this with the purpose on giving people a negative impression of the religion, and she did not provide evidence or background to her statements.

  Now, I know many of you would prefer (or think they prefer) absolute free speech, but actually, I am very convinced we are in the minority in most countries. Europe had religious wars many centuries ago and it is no surprise they instated such laws to keep the peace. I think the law did its job her and the ruling was fair (even although I think the law is outdated).

  Parent

• Re:Direct source link (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 14 2018, @12:43PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 14 2018, @12:43PM (#761714)

  The Austrian court argued that marriage (even consumated) to a minor, especially in said historical setting, is not the same as being a paedophile

  So, what they are saying is that back then people didn't know this was a bad thing to do in that society.

  The leader of the Iranian Revolution in 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, wrote extensively on Islamic Jurisprudence. A two-volume book, which was published originally in Arabic, was called ‘Tahrir al Wasilah’. Translated into Farsi, the book is called “Tahrirolvasyleh.” (read entire text here.) Khomeini also had another treatise on Islamic rules for living, called in English, “The Little Green Book.”
  It is useful to understand what an esteemed Islamic leader such as the Ayatollah teaches his followers.

  A man can have sexual pleasure from a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate vaginally, but sodomising the child is acceptable. If a man does penetrate and damage the child then, he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl will not count as one of his four permanent wives and the man will not be eligible to marry the girl’s sister… It is better for a girl to marry at such a time when she would begin menstruation at her husband’s house, rather than her father’s home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven. ["Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth edition, Qom, Iran, 1990]

  A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, camels and so on. However, he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He should not sell the meat to the people in his own village, but selling the meat to a neighbouring village is reasonable.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahrir_al-Wasilah [wikipedia.org]

  Tahrir al-Wasilah Exegesis of the Means of Salvation or Commentaries on the Liberation of the Intercession; Tahrir al-Vasileh) is a book by Ayatollah Khomeini as a commentary on a traditional theological text, and as a guide for Shia Muslims.

  Parent