In England, free speech will cost the speaker

I know nothing about Azhar Ahmed but these: He lives in England; in March he posted on his Facebook page his hopes that British soldiers in Afghanistan would “burn in hell;” and last Wednesday a judge sentenced him to 240 hours community service and assessed a £300 fine for stating his opinion.

Ahmed might be a nice guy. He might be a total ass. I don’t know.

But I do know no one should be fined and forced into “community service” for stating an opinion, no matter how heinous.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9605045/What-a-shocking-week-its-been-for-free-speech.html

Link from maggiestarm and

http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2012/10/azhar_ahmed_and.html


And in the other land of free speech:

“A federal judge has given the green light to the U.S. Justice Department's prosecution of an Indiana man who allegedly posted incendiary remarks about police.”

The judge said: “Certain categories of speech having little or no social value are not protected, and threats are one such category....”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57531758-38/anti-dea-rants-on-facebook-spark-criminal-prosecution/

(“Certain categories” of speech? Those that have little or no social value?”)