UK: Man arrested for Brussels Tweet

[Drutt]

Allegedly it wasn't the original viral tweet he was arrested for, but other comments on his Twitter feed.

Either way, the main thrust of the act is aimed at preventing violence incited by discriminatory speech. Largely speaking, that's not a bad thing. Incitement to commit violence is illegal in most western nations anyway. The UK simply recognises that discriminatory racially charged speech can and does lead to violent incidents. It can be used against radical clerics just as easily as morons on Twitter.

[AeneasBK]

Allegedly it wasn't the original viral tweet he was arrested for, but other comments on his Twitter feed.

Either way, the main thrust of the act is aimed at preventing violence incited by discriminatory speech. Largely speaking, that's not a bad thing. Incitement to commit violence is illegal in most western nations anyway. The UK simply recognises that discriminatory racially charged speech can and does lead to violent incidents. It can be used against radical clerics just as easily as morons on Twitter.

I think to an extent a lot of the frustration is that for decades the Internet was somewhere you could literally say whatever you wanted with no repurcussion. Now that it is being treated like other published media people are getting upset at the literal curbing of their freedom. But it's only in as much as they are bringing it in line with everything else you're not allowed to "say what you want" in (books, TV etc.)

[Stuffs]

Rather silly.

Do you really think a man who goes to jail because of a stupid tweet is going to change his views? It's going to cement them. He's going to be more open to the notion of real violence. Even if the charges were dropped, he's not going to pause and think twice about his views.

Change the law then. As it is a man broke the law and is being punished for it.

Many things have been made into law that were entirely unethical or short sighted. Chanting "its illegal!" is pointless.

[Tennis]

I find the whole thing were all muslims have to be held accountable whenever some radical fucks decide something needs to be blown up or someone needs to be beheaded pretty fucking stupid. Yes have community leaders say they denounce but acting as if every single muslim in the world is in on the job or whatever is so stupid that the people who believes that should just go and lobotomize themselves already.

Yep
Do Police officers have to be accountable when one of them guns down an innocent.
Or white people when one of them is racist toward a minority.

[Deleted]

I don't support hate speech. I support tolerance and kindness. If these people want to say hateful things then I'm glad they're getting exposed.

Nice dodge. Do you think criticism, satire, parody, mockery of Islam constitutes "hate speech"?

[Tennis]

Nice dodge. Do you think criticism, satire, parody, mockery of Islam constitutes "hate speech"?

I think what the person in the OP said certainly isn't acceptable. Whether he should be arrested for it is up for debate. Seems like in the UK they don't tolerate it and I think that's great for them.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Nice dodge. Do you think criticism, satire, parody, mockery of Islam constitutes "hate speech"?

None of those things applies to this case. He wasn't making a joke about Islam...he yelled at a woman to "Explain Brussels". And then to ramp it up further...he tweeted again about "towelheads". This man is an indefensible bigot.

- - - Updated - - -

Many things have been made into law that were entirely unethical or short sighted. Chanting "its illegal!" is pointless.

As I said...if the citizens of the UK have a problem with the law...they should do something about it.

[Deleted]

None of those things applies to this case. He wasn't making a joke about Islam...he yelled at a woman to "Explain Brussels". And then to ramp it up further...he tweeted again about "towelheads". This man is an indefensible bigot.

He wasn't arrested for the incident with the woman. He was arrested for tweeting about it. The slur afterwards, objectionable as it may have been should be protected by law - and it seems it was.

I think what the person in the OP said certainly isn't acceptable. Whether he should be arrested for it is up for debate. Seems like in the UK they don't tolerate it and I think that's great for them.

Not acceptable in what way? I'm asking you:

Nice dodge. Do you think criticism, satire, parody, mockery of Islam constitutes "hate speech"? Under your premise of "hate speech"?

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

He wasn't arrested for the incident with the woman. He was arrested for tweeting about it. The slur afterwards, objectionable as it may have been should be protected by law - and it seems it was.

The UK laws regarding hate speech:

Public Order Act 1986

A person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, is guilty of an offence if—

(a) he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred, or
(b) having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby.

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 section 4a:

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress, he— (a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress.

He should be charged with more than just the tweets. He should be charged for what he actually did before bragging about it on twitter.

[Fincayra]

we don't even know if he actually did talk to a muslim woman, he could have just made the tweet up.

[Deleted]

The UK laws regarding hate speech:

Public Order Act 1986

A person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, is guilty of an offence if—

(a) he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred, or
(b) having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby.

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 section 4a:

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress, he— (a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress.

He should be charged with more than just the tweets. He should be charged for what he actually did before bragging about it on twitter.

We only have his version of events. For all we know he made the event up.

[Nathreim]

Sounds like the UK needs some freedom.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

We only have his version of events. For all we know he made the event up.

I'm not sure about how it works in the UK...but sometimes Social Media posts can be used in court.

Pro-Tip: if you commit a crime...don't tweet/facebook/etc about it

[AsariCommando]

When you insinuate that someone in a different country is involved with or knows about a massive crime because of their religion and brag about it on social media, then yes, you deserve to be punished.

They deserve to be punished for holding the wrong opinion? And that punishment should be getting arrested?

[Netherling]

I don't know if it's already been said yet but the charges against this guy have now been dropped, apparently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35898029

[derpkitteh]

Good to see free speech is upheld, even when it's ignorant racial slurs.

it wasn't, free speech was spat upon. the guy was arrested.

UK needs to get its fucking self in order. certainly glad america's not like that. thought policing goddamned nazis.

[Trump]

So glad I live in the USA where I can make a derogatory comment about someone and suffer no penalty whatsoever from law enforcement. What a complete and total fucking joke the UK laws are regarding this kind of speech.

[Heathy]

must have been a slow crime week.

[May90]

As much as the comment was disgusting, I think arresting a person for a tweet is something that shouldn't take place in a civilized world.

[Nathreim]

I don't know if it's already been said yet but the charges against this guy have now been dropped, apparently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35898029

Good to see someone has some sense.

I mean do you know how much it would cost to prosecute something as stupid as this?

Im 100% sure the UK can find much better things to spend money on than punishing people for a saying stupid things.