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VILIFICATION ATTEMPTED

Gerard Jackson aims to test Victoria’s anti-vilification laws (scroll down to the 15th paragraph). Not all Australians are so bold as Jackson; take a look at this. In other legal news, here’s an interesting defence tactic:

A lawyer defending al Qaida-linked suspects standing trial for the 2003 suicide bombings in Istanbul told a court that jihad, or holy war, was an obligation for Muslims and his clients should not be prosecuted.

“If you punish them for this, tomorrow, will you punish them for fasting or for praying?” Osman Karahan—a lawyer representing 14 of the 72 suspects—asked during a nearly four-hour speech in which he read religious texts from an encyclopedia of Islam.

(Via Mark B.)

Posted by Tim B. on 12/21/2005 at 07:01 AM
  1. It’s a slippery slope argument.  But if you accept one slippery slope argument, you have to accept them all.  That’s why you can’t accept even the first one.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2005 12 21 at 08:12 AM • permalink

  2. I’ll bet those bloody laws which were rushed thru NSW parliament, allow for the coppers to check people’s mobile phones.

    Posted by murph on 2005 12 21 at 08:18 AM • permalink

  3. I just read the article.

    Go boy, go.

    Firstly, we must demand a prosecution.

    Secondly, we must support Gerard in any and every way we can.

    I do not believe anyone with two brain cells to synapse could take Islam seriously.

    Posted by Chris Harper on 2005 12 21 at 08:55 AM • permalink

  4. If you punish them for this, tomorrow, will you punish them for fasting or for praying?” Osman Karahan—a lawyer representing 14 of the 72 suspects—asked during a nearly four-hour speech in which he read religious texts from an encyclopedia of Islam.

    Oooooh.. So is this why (effectively) only Israel has trial-by-jury out of all the Middle East countries, Islamic lawyer keep making four-hour speeches??

    Posted by anthony27 on 2005 12 21 at 09:53 AM • permalink

  5. Have they closed nominations for Australian of the Year for 2006?

    If not, I nominate Gerry, tho if he wins I suspect it may need to be awarded posthumously.

    Posted by Flying Giraffe on 2005 12 21 at 09:53 AM • permalink

  6. I have reported what Gerard Jackson said on
    my own site. I expect a knock on the door at any moment. I hope this action on his part gets traction.

    Posted by ronvanwegen on 2005 12 21 at 09:54 AM • permalink

  7. Would it be a criminal offence to go around and say that islan is a religion that requires you to kill all that is not islam??
    and cite that lawyer??

    Posted by embutler on 2005 12 21 at 10:41 AM • permalink

  8. The only solution to the problems posed by these PC laws, long-term, is to make them threshhold voting issues - any politician who supports them, out he goes. The inordinate deference being given to muslim sensibilities is preposterous, and the legal machinery that props up these laws is a trojan horse that will ultimately facilitate attempts by extremists to steadily radicalize the muslim community.

    Posted by paco on 2005 12 21 at 10:48 AM • permalink

  9. A few years back, a Wilmington North Carolina (USA) fourth-grade teacher taught the word “niggardly” as a synomym for “stingy” in her class.  The parent of an African-American pupil in the class complained.  Instead of backing her up, the school administrators reprimanded the teacher and said the word was “inappropriate.”

    I’m not lying about this, you can Google it.

    It seems the lowest common denominator of stupidity is now the standard against which everything is judged.

    Posted by Mystery Meat on 2005 12 21 at 11:07 AM • permalink

  10. What’s interesting about Osman Karahan’s argument is that he equates suicide bombing with fasting and praying.  How then can any Muslim be surprised when non-Muslims call Islam a religion of terror?

    I wish Mr. Jackson all the luck in the world, but it will come to nothing if Australians don’t back him up.  That cell phone thing was simply outrageous.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2005 12 21 at 11:20 AM • permalink

  11. The comptroller for Washington D.C. used that same word to descrobe a poorly-performing mutual fund that was part of the city employee’s pension fund.  He was summarily fired (and vilified).

    Posted by crusher_of_libs on 2005 12 21 at 11:23 AM • permalink

  12. Lebanese “Plumbers” ruining Sierra Leone as well as Australia.

    http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2369857

    Posted by Rob Read on 2005 12 21 at 12:07 PM • permalink

  13. Accept his argument, and hold him as a prisoner of war until the purported “Jihad” is over.

    Posted by aaron_ on 2005 12 21 at 12:50 PM • permalink

  14. Well jackson get ny vote for Anti Dhimmi of the year and i’m offering another prize.
    The first reader to find the Word “Muslim’ in any of the reports in the australian media relating to the burning of Churches, stabbings, forcing of old age pensioners to step off into the gutter when facing approaching “uber mencsh” of mediteranean appearance.
    Multiculturism is indeed as Michael Moore puts in for stupid white men and their leaders and media. No such mindsets exist in any countries under the banner of the black flag.

    Posted by davo on 2005 12 21 at 04:17 PM • permalink

  15. Good on ya Mr Jackson.  He will probably need someone from Victoria to officially complain to the commission, in order so they can’t just ignore the obvious set-up.

    Nice little Chrissy Dilemna for the Vics.

    Posted by Brett_McS on 2005 12 21 at 06:34 PM • permalink

  16. A lawyer defending al Qaida-linked suspects standing trial for the 2003 suicide bombings in Istanbul told a court that jihad, or holy war, was an obligation for Muslims and his clients should not be prosecuted.

    But…but…but… it’s the Religion of Peace(TM)!

    Posted by Dave S. on 2005 12 21 at 07:04 PM • permalink

  17. Oh, there’s more!

    I was forced to turn Gerry in to the Commission for Unequal Opportunity for Non-muslims.

    You see, I was forced to turn in my old friend to the Commish. Yep, I know I am being hard on Gerry. But what could I do?

    The good thing about Gerry is that he was quick to forgive me and we are still great friends.


    Dear Ms. Szoke:
              I have just read a piece in Brookesnews.com referring to the racial vilification laws as the Bracks blasphemy laws. The writer, Mr. Gerry Jackson, makes reference to the case your office brought against the two Christian ministers and the “aggressive” way in which your office persecuted these two men. The pastors were, as we are told, simply quoting passages from the Koran and then asking the congregation to “pray and love all Muslims”. This has a certain smell about it, Ms Szoke, reminding many of us of what used happen in Star Chamber proceedings in earlier times in England when people were prosecuted in secret trials for speaking up against the Crown.

    I believe Mr. Jackson has thrown down the gauntlet with this piece. He describes himself as an active liberal party member daring your office to prosecute him. Mr. Jackson is portraying the Islamic Prophet as a vile person. I don’t believe your office can avoid prosecuting Mr. Jackson judging from what he wrote in this article, which has been posted on the web.

    Ms. Szoke, if I can please make an observation? If you fail to go after Mr. Jackson, the legal attack against the two pastors becomes obviously selective and capricious smacking of opportunism. If you move to prosecute Mr. Jackson, the political position you place the State Government in could have adverse political consequences. After all, going after a Liberal Party member who writes a piece and then publishing it on the web that directly flies in the face of the blasphemy laws will simply look like a Stalinist prosecution.
    I am sure that as a matter or courtesy, Mr. Jackson, will be notifying the pastors’ legal representatives about his article written in Melbourne and therefore violating the Bracks Blasphemy laws. He will, I’m sure also notify these representatives of your failure to act if you fail to bring action.

    As you can see, prosecuting a Liberal Party member will smack of Stalinism. However failing to act will immediately jeopardize the current ongoing case.

    I also copying this email to several people including the leader of the opposition, the Prime Minister and several journalists to ensure this correspondence receive the proper attention.

    Copied below is the article in question. See also link: http://www.brookesnews.com/051912bracks.html


                 
                    Yours Sincerely

                 
                   
                    JC
                    ................

    Posted by powderkeg on 2005 12 21 at 07:07 PM • permalink

  18. A lawyer defending al Qaida-linked suspects standing trial for the 2003 suicide bombings in Istanbul told a court that jihad, or holy war, was an obligation for Muslims and his clients should not be prosecuted.

    Islam’s problem in a nutshell…

    Posted by monkeyfan on 2005 12 21 at 07:20 PM • permalink

  19. #17.  Great stuff.  Nice monika, too.

    Posted by Brett_McS on 2005 12 21 at 08:31 PM • permalink

  20. there are, what, 200,000 - 300,000 muslims in australia all up or something.  no other similarly small immigrant grouping causes do much trouble.  no other grouping seeks not just tolerance but change in our cultural institutions so blatantly nor whines so loudly about the few bad apples shouldn’t stand for the whole (& they are justifiably alienated anyway so don’t condemn the misguided).  and it’s nothing to do with the religion of peace? hmmmmmm

    Posted by KK on 2005 12 21 at 09:16 PM • permalink

  21. do so - pimf

    Posted by KK on 2005 12 21 at 09:17 PM • permalink

  22. I thought Gerry Jackson was persona non grata in this forum. Has he been forgiven?

    Posted by walterplinge on 2005 12 22 at 04:35 AM • permalink

  23. there are, what, 200,000 - 300,000 muslims in australia all up or something.

    IIRC, it’s about 2% or something.

    So…yeah, 300,000 or so.

    The problem is, the majority live in the West of Sydney.

    Posted by Quentin George on 2005 12 22 at 05:43 AM • permalink

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