freedom of expression - Page 3

(AFP) — At least seven Pakistan police officers and special rangers were taken hostage Sunday by supporters of a radical Islamist party, officials said, after days of violent anti-France protes

Swathes of Pakistan have been swept by anti-French riots and French citizens advised to leave the country after an Islamist politician was arrested for saying their ambassador should be expelled from the South Asian country.

(AFP) — The French embassy in Pakistan on Thursday advised all French nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country, after violent anti-France protests paralysed large parts of the country this week.

The father of a teacher suspended from Batley Grammar School for showing images of Islam’s prophet Mohammed during a lesson on blasphemy says the school “threw him under a bus”.

Local Islamic leaders in West Yorkshire will send a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanding that Britain show “respect” to Islam or face becoming “like France” following controversy over a teacher showing students a picture of Mohammed.

Comedian Ricky Gervais has joined the chorus of condemnation against the suspension of a British teacher for showing a caricature of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, questioning whether people will be “punished for insulting unicorns” next.

A British teacher who showed his class cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed has reportedly been moved to a safe location and is under police protection.

Several Swedish media bodies have criticised the Press, Radio, and Television Authority (MPRT) for suggesting that only “responsible” media should be eligible for government monetary support.

National Rally leader Marine Le Pen and MEP Gilbert Collard were in court this week as prosecutors demand a 5,000 euro fine against the two for posting pictures of Islamic State atrocities on Twitter in 2015.

The populist Sweden Democrats have demanded the government draft legislation to ensure freedom of speech on the internet and fight big tech censorship.

The United Kingdom’s culture secretary has threatened to impose fines on social media companies if they fail to police so-called hate speech. The move comes in stark contrast to Poland, which has vowed to fine tech companies which embark on censorship campaigns.

Poland’s new Freedom Act against Big Tech censorship will see members of the public automatically notified of “shadowbans” and empowered to overturn restrictions if their speech online is lawful.

Social media giant Twitter suspended the main account of Spanish populist party VOX this week after the party launched a new campaign to push back against Islamisation.

The Hungarian government has confirmed that it will legislate against Big Tech censorship online, declaring that “we must fight for our digital freedom!”

Poland is legislating to protect freedom of speech on online platforms, government minister Sebastian Kaleta told Breitbart News. 

Poland’s Deputy Justice Minister has called on the U.S. to protect “every citizen” from Big Tech censorship on social media, as his own country prepares new laws enforcing free speech standards online.

A British police officer has been charged with a criminal offence for allegedly sharing a “grossly offensive” meme of George Floyd in a private message group with other officers. Sergeant Geraint Jones, 47, of the Devon and Cornwall police force,

Britain’s Socialist Workers Party (SWP) was censored from Facebook on Friday, as Silicon Valley tech giants turn their censorship apparatus upon the radical left in the U.S. and the UK.

Britain’s new anti-woke Reclaim party is calling for Britain to follow Poland’s example by “outlawing censorship” online.

The Hungarian government is following the Polish government in moving against Big Tech, vowing action against the “shadowbanning” of “Christian, conservative, [and] right-wing opinions”.

The French teenager who received death threats after criticising Islam online and was briefly the subject of a hate crime investigation receives 30 hate messages a minute.

Poland’s government has unveiled a draft law to combat censorship on social media, creating a Freedom of Speech Board with the power to order tech firms to restore online accounts and posts deleted for lawful speech on pain of substantial fines. 

Poland’s national conservative government has detailed a new law protecting free speech online against Big Tech censorship, backed by a new court and big fines.

The Irish government has proposed making it a crime to share ‘hate’ comments on social media platforms even if someone else wrote of them.

A French law professor has been placed under police protection after referring to religions, including Islam, as “sexually transmitted” during a lecture to around 600 students in October.

England’s High Court has struck a rare victory for free speech, overturning the conviction of a Twitter user who called a transgender person a man and ruling that people have a right to offend others online.

A French court has ruled on a case involving 14 accomplices of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo terror attackers, finding several of them guilty of terrorist offences, handing out sentences ranging from four years to life in prison.

French investigators have taken five Chechen-background youths into custody as the five are believed to have been in contact with teacher Samuel Paty’s killer Abdoullakh Anzorov.

Eton College — the elite school that has educated everyone from the Duke of Wellington and George Orwell to Princes William and Harry and the current Archbishop of Canterbury — has gone woke.

Police arrested an 18-year-old French rapper in Seine-et-Marne this week for publishing a music video featuring lyrics that allegedly praised the murder of teacher Samuel Paty.

Four more pupils have been indicted in the murder of Samuel Paty, with three of the four accused of complicity and helping to identify the teacher to his killer.

Frank Gaffney invited Americans to use Thanksgiving as an opportunity to rededicate themselves to American values of freedom and liberty.

Scots who say that trans women are not actually women will face criminal prosecution if a court finds that their speech “stirred up hatred”.

In the aftermath of the Islamist murder of Samuel Paty, a teacher in the Paris no-go suburbs has claimed up to one-third of her pupils openly question freedom of expression and say it is “not normal” to criticise Islam.

Christmas mainstay Fairytale of New York will be censored by the BBC this year because it fears sensitive listeners will be offended by some of the lyrics.

French president Emmanuel Macron has complained that the mainstream media appear to be “legitimising” a spate of radical Islamic terror attacks against his country by claiming it is “racist and Islamophobic”.