Category Archives: Lars Hedegaard
Statement by Lars Hedegaard on his conviction for “hate speech”
Thanks to Jerry over at the Iconoclast for sending me this important press release by Lars Hedigaard.
The Iconoclast
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Lars Hedegaard: The Struggle Goes on
Lars Hedegaard, President
Danish and International Free Press Societies
Statement by Lars Hedegaard on his conviction for “hate speech”
Copenhagen, May 5, 2011
It is with great sadness I have to report that Denmark’s reputation as a haven of free speech and a bastion of resistance to sharia encroachment is irreparably tarnished. Denmark is my country and I used to be proud of it.
On May 3 the Eastern Superior Court in Copenhagen convicted me of hate speech under Denmark’s infamous Article 266 b of the penal code – a rubber provision that may be stretched to serve any political purpose dear to the hearts of the ruling elites.
My crime is to have called attention to the horrific conditions of Muslim women and for my audacity the court has now enabled my detractors to label me a racist.
Muslims can say whatever they want with impunity. Just a few weeks ago Denmark opened its gates to the hate-spewing preacher Bilal Philips, known for his advocacy of wife-beating and the killing of homosexuals. He was provided a platform in Copenhagen and nobody thought of dragging him into court.
Our authorities and their allies among the pc elites have chosen sides in the struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of darkness and so opted for the oppressors of their own people and against those deserving of their protection.
The real victims of this despicable case are freedom of speech and the tens of thousands of girls and women – Muslim as well as non-Muslim – whose plight may no longer be mentioned in my country for fear of legal prosecution and public denigration.
We cannot permit this outcome to stand. I have therefore decided to appeal my conviction to the Supreme Court and – if that is denied – to the European Court of Human Rights.
This is a fight for liberty against tyranny. It will be long and hard but losing is no option.
Official statement from the Danish Free Press Society.
All of you with websites please feel free to copy and republish.
This is from Europenews:
President of Danish Free Press Society convicted for ‘Racism’
Danish Free Press Society 
3 May 2011
The President of the Free Press Society, Lars Hedegaard, was declared guilty of racist statements.
Lars Hedegaard was today found guilty of hate speech under Article 266b of the Danish penal code. The background is a good 35 minutes long interview to the site snaphanen.dk which Hedegaard gave in December 2009.
Here Hedegaard said, among other things, that “girls in Muslim families are raped by their uncles, their cousins or their dad.”
Lars Hedegaard has previously expressed regret if his statements gave the impression that he would accuse all Muslims of abusing their children. The day after the interview he stressed that his opinions were about Islam and not Muslims.
In January Hedegaard was acquitted of racist statements in the lower court of Frederiksberg. The court believed that his statements were insulting, but the case was dismissed because he did not know that the interview, which took place during a Christmas lunch, would be published.
The prosecutor appealed the verdict to the Eastern Regional Court, which today claimed that Hedegaard knew his statements would be published. He is therefore declared guilty of racist statements.
Lars Hedegaard is sentenced to a fine of DKK 5,000 (approximately $1000).
Lars Hedegaard states:
The real losers today are freedom of speech and Muslim women. How can we speak up for them if we risk getting a state sanctioned label of racism?
Lars Hedegaard will appeal the verdict.
§ 266b of the Danish penal code:
“Whoever publicly or with the intent of public dissemination issues a pronouncement or other communication by which a group of persons are threatened, insulted or denigrated due to their race, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation is liable to a fine or incarceration for up to two years.”
Lars Hedigaard on Russian TV
I can’t help but think of something one of my brothers said to me as a child. “The most common substance in the universe is not stupidity, but Irony” and when Christian TV an Russian TV are the only sources of what is plain and obvious truth, no clearer examples of his interesting observation could be offered.
Lars Hedigaard aquitted on ‘hate speech’ charges
Here is the link to the google translation of the danish page.
h/t Snaphanen
Russia Today runs interview on Lars and the IFPS
Michael Coren: Lars Vilks
SDAMATT2 as usual, managed to bring us this Coren show. Michael Coren is one of the few sane voices on Television in Canada. Not sure as a result, how long he will last. He also writes for the National Post and the Sun Chain.
Michael Coren has also had Kurt Westergaard on his show, thanks in part to Vlad Tepes, as well as the International Free Press Society.
Melanie Phillips on the persecution of Lars Hedigaard in Denmark
Its good to see people like Ms. Phillips noticing and publicizing this disgraceful action by Denmark which up to now, has been a beacon of light for freedoms in the gathering darkness of Scandinavian dhimmitude. (The next story there is rather revealing as well)
From the Spectator:
A chilling development in Denmark illustrates just how ‘hate speech’ laws, which were introduced by deluded western liberals, are being used to stifle and criminalise the expression of legitimate opinion and essential debate — the prerequisite of a liberal society. Lars Hedegaard is president of Denmark’s International Free Press Society, which is devoted to fighting to preserve freedom of expression — particularly against the threat from radical Islam to shut it down on the spurious grounds of ‘Islamophobia’. The inevitable has now happened: as Nathaniel Sugarman writes at The Legal Project, Hedegaard finds himself facing prosecution for ‘racism’ over remarks he has made about Islam.
The basis for Hedegaard’s prosecution was an interview from December 2009 in which he made controversial statements about Islam. These assertions included critiques of what Hedegaard saw as Islam’s permissiveness regarding child abuse and bearing false witness, as well as Islam’s general intolerance concerning apostacism and critical speech. Snaphanen, a Danish blog, published the original interview, and Hedegaard has since clarified some of his remarks.
For the rest, please click the Spectator link above the picture:
Denmark: Prosecution of Free Speech Advocate May Prompt Changes to Racism Laws
Note: Danish URLs can be viewed in English using Google translate.
On August 4, 2010, the Public Prosecutor for Copenhagen charged International Free Press Society (IFPS) president Lars Hedegaard with racism. The IFPS describes itself as an organization “exclusively devoted to defending the right of free expression.”
The basis for Hedegaard’s prosecution was an interview from December 2009 in which he made controversial statements about Islam. These assertions included critiques of what Hedegaard saw as Islam’s permissiveness regarding child abuse and bearing false witness, as well as Islam’s general intolerance concerning apostacism and critical speech. Snaphanen, a Danish blog, published the original interview, and Hedegaard has since clarified some of his remarks.
Hedegaard’s statements earned him a hate speech charge under Danish law. While Denmark’s constitution ostensibly protects freedom of expression and forbids censorship (see Section 77), the Criminal code provides that “expressing and spreading racial hatred” is a criminal offense punishable with up to two years imprisonment. (Article 266b) Continue Reading →