Man Arrested for Criticizing Muslims on Facebook


Bennett’s arrest is just the latest example of British police prosecuting citizens for making “offensive” comments on the Internet, even if their words do not lead to violence.

Earlier this year, a beauty salon owner was taken into custody for saying Muslims would be banned from their establishment on Facebook:

“’It’s increasingly common for comments posted on social media to be featured in criminal cases. These platforms provide an amount of anonymity. People can say things they wouldn’t dream of saying face to face.

‘His mother-in-law and sister-in-law are Muslims, he gets on with them very well. He has insisted he does not have racist sympathies, he struggles to explain it.

‘It may be that the more people are exposed to offensive opinions, the more they are normalised to people who then feel it’s acceptable for them to post them.’

Sentencing, Recorder Andrew Long told Bennett he found it ‘impossible to believe’ he would have posted the ‘grossly offensive’ comments unless he was ‘at least a sympathiser’ with those who expressed such views.

The judge said ‘running the risk of stirring up racial hatred in the present climate’, was ‘very serious’ describing it as ‘conduct capable of playing into the hands of the enemies of this country’.

Sentencing him to a 12-month community order, with 180 hours’ unpaid work, the judge added: ‘Your remarks damaged the community in which you live, and it’s the community that you must repay.’”

When we post this story we inevitably get confirmation from our British subscribers:

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Source: Manchester Evening News



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