Via heretical.com: “News today, January 29, 2010 that the appeal against conviction on internet publishing on a foreign website has been lost. Fortunately, the appeal judges ruled the sentences were excessive and reduced Simon Sheppard’s sentence by a year to 3 years and 10 months and Stephen Whittle’s sentence by six months to 1 year and 10 months.”
Canaries in the Coal MineThought Crime – The Heretical Two
by Jack Donovan on January 3, 2010
In 2008, two men in the UK had their houses raided, their papers and property seized. They were prosecuted and convicted of “inciting hatred.” They were sentenced in absentia. They fled to the United States, where their controversial web site was actually hosted, to seek asylum. They waited in jail for over 80 days, and were denied asylum by a judge who had granted it to an IRA member who participated in the beating, stripping and murder of two police officers. These two men are writers. They have not committed any acts of violence or theft. These two men, known as the Heretical Two, were deported back to the UK, where they were immediately jailed. They remain in prison today.Their website, containing much of the material that was used as evidence against them in court, is still online.
http://www.heretical.com/
Some of the material on the site is inaccurate, skewed or distorted. Some of it is funny, some of it is crude, some of it is angry, and some of it is mean. Some of it is racist. Some of it is sexist. Some of it is true. Some of it is in direct conflict with my own beliefs and writings, and some of it is offensive to me on a personal level. Some of it would be denounced by most people. Almost all of it would be denounced as unacceptable by cultural Marxists, feminists and other leftists.
Many of the same things could be said about the posts and comments published on The Spearhead.
You don’t have to agree with everything these men have written or published to agree that it is wrong for them to be in prison for THOUGHT CRIME. If you say, write and believe things that could be selectively identified as “hate speech” by the powers that be…one day, this could be you.
I know it could be me.
This story needs to receive much more attention than it is getting. It needs to be told over and over, because it is a sign of things to come. In America, protected by the United States Constitution, we still have the ability to say what we like and face mostly social and professional consequences. We take this for granted. We shouldn’t. We currently have hate crimes laws—our President recently expanded their scope—and many on the left believe that our Constitution is “a living document” to be altered and reinterpreted according to prevailing whim. “Progressives” and liberals in the US idolize European and Canadian systems, many of which have and defend the same kinds of hate speech laws that put these men behind bars.
Women—as many of you know well—will be happy to tell you what you can and cannot say. Women are ascending to power. How long will they continue to allow you to freely and openly question them? How many feminists would defend your right to free speech if they found what you wrote threatening, insulting or “politically incorrect?”
If my characterization of feminists here is incorrect, I challenge five pro-feminist sites to post blogs demanding the release of “The Heretical Two,” who were vehemently sexist as well as racist. Otherwise, I will continue to characterize feminists—and a large percentage of women—as enemies of free speech.
Release The Heretical Two!
Related Links:
http://www.heretical.com/
http://www.freethehereticaltwo.com/
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/03/local/me-brits-jailed3
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8010537.stm
ovo127.com – The Heretical Two
ovo127.com – The Heretical Two: Timeline
The Hoover Hog: Two Writers
from heretical.com, some details on the forfeiture hearing relating to the seizure of Simon Sheppard’s publishing equipment…
The full appeal hearing before three judges was held on Thursday November 26 / 27, 2009 at the Law Courts, Strand, London – still no decision given December 21st.
Good luck, and let us know how things turn out.
Find the full post at:
Geert Wilders receives summons: a sledgehammer blow to the freedom of speech
A statement on the Wilders trial:
The 20th of January 2010 will be a crucial day for defending our freedom. This is the day when the political trial against Geert Wilders will start. Yesterday, Geert Wilders was summoned by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) on behalf of the Court of Justice of Amsterdam. The indictment reads: group insult of Muslims, incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims due to their religion and incitement to hatred and discrimination against non-western immigrants and / or Moroccans due to their race.
Geert Wilders: “On the 20th of January 2010, a political trial will start. I am being prosecuted for my political convictions. The freedom of speech is on the verge of collapsing. If a politician is not allowed to criticise an ideology anymore, this means that we are lost, and it will lead to the end of our freedom. However I remain combative: I am convinced that I will be acquitted.”
In earlier stages, the PPS did not see any reason to prosecute Mr. Wilders.
Bram Moszkowicz, the lawyer on the case at hand, has submitted a notice of objection to the summons on the point of group insult on behalf of Geert Wilders. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled that even though it is indeed punishable to insult a group of people, it is not punishable to insult a religion as such. Due to this the order of the Court of Amsterdam on this point is deemed incorrect.
And here is the summons, from the District Court, Office of the Public Prosecutor, in Amsterdam:
SUMMONS OF THE ACCUSED
To: name: Wilders
first names: Geert
born on: 06 September 1963 in Venlo
residing in: 2513 AA The Hague
address: Binnenhof 1 A
I hereby summon you to on Wednesday 20 January 2010 at 09:00 o’clock appear as the accused at the hearing of the three-judge criminal division in the district of Amsterdam, Parnassusweg 220, in order to be tried on that which is specified below.
I refer to the notices under 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 on the reverse side of this page.
A notice of objection submitted by you will be handled on the date and time as specified in the summons. In case of dismissal the Court can directly proceed with deliberation of the case.
The Public Prosecutor
[illegible signature]
The aforementioned summoned person is charged with the fact that
1. he, on one or more dates in or about the period from 8 August 2007 up to and including 27 March 2008, in The Hague and/or Amsterdam and/or (elsewhere in) the Netherlands, on multiple occasions, at least once, (each time) in public, orally, in writing or through images, intentionally offended a group of people, i.e. Muslims, based on their religion, by (each time) intentionally in
- De Volkskrant and/or
- on the internet on the website www.liveleak.com (in the film Fitna)
placing (having placed) and/or showing (having showed) and/or having heard one or more texts and/or images and/or footage and/or audio fragments with the following content:
(De Volkskrant of 8 August 2007, ‘Enough is enough: prohibit the Quran’)
‘A moderate Islam does not exist. It does not exist because there is no distinction between Good Islam and Bad Islam. There is Islam and that is it. And Islam means the Quran and nothing but the Quran. And the Quran is the Mein Kampf of a religion that intends to eliminate others and that refers to those others – non-Muslims – as unfaithful dogs, inferior beings. Read the Quran, this Mein Kampf, again. In whatever version, you will see that all the evil that the sons of Allah commit to us and themselves originates from this book (Oriana Fallaci, The Force of Reason, post-script, page 305, February 2006).’
and/or
‘The core of the problem is the fascist Islam, the sick ideology of Allah and Mohammed as laid down in the Islamic Mein Kampf: the Quran. The texts from the Quran leave little to imagination.’
and/or
‘Prohibit this miserable book the way Mein Kampf was also prohibited!’
and/or
‘I have enough of the Quran in the Netherlands: prohibit this fascist book.’
and/or
(The film Fitna, placed on www.liveleak.com on 27 March 2008)
‘Islam wants to control, subdue and is out for the destruction of our Western civilisation. In 1945 Nazism was beaten in Europe. In 1989 communism was beaten in Europe. Now the Islamic ideology must be beaten. Stop the Islamisation. Defend our freedom.’
At midnight 1 December 2009, the United Kingdom became beholden to the Treaty of Lisbon as part of its membership in the European Union. The Treaty of Lisbon includes a Charter of Fundamental Rights. Among these rights are…
Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected. Everyone has the right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right includes freedom to change religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or in private, to manifest religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected. The arts and scientific research shall be free of constraint. Academic freedom shall be respected. The right to asylum shall be guaranteed with due respect for the rules of the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 and the Protocol of 31 January 1967 relating to the status of refugees and in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community. Everyone is equal before the law. Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited. The Union shall respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity. No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again in criminal proceedings for an offence for which he or she has already been finally acquitted or convicted within the Union in accordance with the law.
Do any of these rights apply to the cause of the Heretical Two? Or are such rights and freedoms for polite company only?
from heretical.com, some details on the forfeiture hearing relating to the seizure of Simon Sheppard’s publishing equipment…
The full appeal hearing before three judges will commence on Thursday November 26 2009 at the Law Courts, Strand, London and take two days.
Good luck, and let us know how things turn out.
“Hacktivists ransack Hitler defender’s email: Self-proclaimed anti-fascist hackers have struck a major blow at controversial World War II historian David Irving by taking down two of his websites and publishing scores of his emails and private information. The 16,000-word missive posted to Wikileaks contains the names and contact details of supporters of Irving, who – among other things – claims that Adolf Hitler was unaware of the Holocaust. It also includes passwords for accounts Irving used to receive email, administer his websites, and process online purchases of his books and tickets. Its posting over the weekend coincided with the outage of his two websites, Irvingbooks.com and Focal Point Magazine. … The contents from Irving’s America Online email account showed contemporaneous messages with supporters and assistants as Irving toured the United States promoting his latest book. Many of the emails reveal locations of appearances that were generally kept secret until just hours before they were to begin. “We trust you to keep this location confidential,” the messages conclude. Irving avoided wide disclosure of the locations to prevent the events from being disrupted by protesters. On Friday, Irving had to cancel a talk in New York City that had been reserved under the name “Michael Singer”. When the venue learned Irving planned to speak, it revoked permission, according to Tablet Magazine. Many messages list the names, contact details, and donation amounts of Irving supporters. Others, such as an email Irving sent a supporter in late October, reveal tensions during his recent tour. “I am sorry to inform you that we cannot allow your attendance at my future events,” Irving wrote. “Among your guests, it appears, were some who caused a serious affray and damage to hotel property.” The intercepted communications also include bank identifier codes Irving used when wiring money.”
Want to read Irving’s private e-mail? Here it is. Now you don’t have to wonder why contributors to freethehereticaltwo.com use stupid fake names like “Juror 02.” We Jurors like being able to hold down jobs, pay our bills, raise our families – things that the noble anti-fascists need to stop so we will have to pay the high price for our free speech.
Index on Censorship is Britain’s leading organisation promoting freedom of expression. With its global profile, its website provides up-to-the-minute news and information on free expression from around the world.
Index on Censorship includes information on Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle, The Heretical Two.
UK surveillance plan to go ahead. The Home Office says it will push ahead with plans to ask communications firms to monitor all internet use. Ministers confirmed their intention despite concerns and opposition from some in the industry. The proposals include asking firms to retain information on how people use social networks such as Facebook. Some 40% of respondents to the Home Office’s consultation opposed the plans – but ministers say communication interception needs to be updated. Both the police and secret security services have legal powers in the UK to intercept communications in the interests of combating crime or threats to national security.
[The Heretical Two are in a UK prison because of their internet use - creating a website hosted in California, USA. When this article suggests the Home Office will be monitoring all internet use they mean just that.]
Threatened Voices is a collaborative mapping project to build a database of bloggers who have been threatened, arrested or killed for speaking out online and to draw attention to the campaigns to free them. This website is a project of Global Voices Advocacy to map instances where bloggers and online writers have been threatened, arrested, killed, or disappeared by authorities since 2000 (where our database begins) until today. We call on everyone to submit information about new arrests, threats and online campaigns supporting oppressed bloggers, as well as help us keep our database current by sending us updates. All submitted information will be reviewed before publication.
Threatened Voices includes information about Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle as of 5 November 2009. Free the Heretical Two is listed as one of their campaign websites.