A Cambridge College’s student newspaper has caused a bit of fuss recently. One of the troubling suggestions to emerge is that publishing the statement, ‘I hate Islam‘ might be a criminal offence in the UK…
Harry’s Place publishes a fuller description of the offending issue but in the discussion on the matter, the contributer says,
The view of a criminal barrister to whom I have shown the edition is that there would be sufficient evidence to consider a charge for a public order offence, where there was a religiously aggrievating element. The statement “I hate Islam” is a relevant factor. Treating the Gopel of St Mark flippantly, and the joke about “Christ’s pieces” might also form the basis of a prosecution: although this is less likely. The relevant offences, in any event, are very broadly drafted, and cover merely “insulting” behaviour which would cause a person “distress”.
I think I want to emigrate. Could I claim asylum from a country which has dismissed traditional liberties quite so much?