He was originally charged with nine counts of gross defamation, inciting ethnic hatred, and inciting religious hatred.
Lehto had previosly served a suspended sentence for defamation and was under probation, which means thathis three month sentence will become mandatory. The total mandatory sentence will be two years and four months, which is by far the harshest sentence ever for a "Freedom of Speech crime" in Finnish legal history.
The full verdict can be read in Finnish here.
When Seppo originally informed me of his sentencing, I wrote the following email to him:
I am sorry to hear that you are having this problem. Do you have to go to
prison right away, or will you be able to appeal?
Is there
anything we can do to help maybe?
Today, I received his response:
I will appeal to higher courts. I let you know when I know better
http://jumalanpilkasta.blogspot.com/ ( One of my blogs )
Unfortunately my not so good english is a little obstacle. But I hope you
got messages from
( I do not know that person, but he has reported my court case in english http://vasarahammer.blogspot.com/ )
or other finns if I have been prisoned. In the jail there is not
possiblities to reply to e-mails.
Yours Sincerely
Seppo Lehto
Muhammed caricaturist
Suomi Finland
I have since read criticisms of Seppo Lehto, including some on Gates of Vienna, which imply that he is a racist. So, in reply to his email, I sent him the following:
Hi Seppo,
I am glad to hear that you are not in prison at this point. I
hope that you win your appeal.
Let me know if there is anything we
can do in terms of getting word out.
Here is a question for you. I
see that you use the word "nigger" on your website. That is considered a racist
word in English.
You have a right to be a racist if you want to be.
And, you have a right to express racist opinions if that is how you
feel.
Do you dislike people who are not white? Tell me, honestly.
You have a right to not like people who are not white.
I am white,
but most of my family is not white. I love people of all colors. But, I believe
it is a person's right to express their opinion, no matter what that opinion is.
What is your opinion?
It will be interesting to see how he replies. Let us be clear, a person has the right to not like people for whatever reason they choose. And further, a person has a right to express his or her opinion on that subject. So, I support Seppo Lehto in his right to express his opinion.
At the same time, if he is a racist, we need to be clear about it.
The reason we need to be clear about it is so you can choose whether you want to join us in supporting Seppo Lehto.
Here is a video from Seppo Lehto. I find this video hilarious. I wish I would have made it. See what you think:
8 comments:
Oh, I do hope that he responds to your question, Pastorius!
In other countries, the word "Nigger" is regarded as an acceptable American term for a black person....with no insult intended. I have been shocked many times by Israeli use of that term, but when questioned about the usage the people involved were even more shocked to learn that "Nigger" was considered an insult. (And Israel is far more colour blind than the United States)
My experience with Seppo Lehto leads me to believe he is an endless joker. All words that come out of his mouth seem to be fraught with irony and humorous deceit.
He has a video, for instance, where he shows how to lift weights. The man is in ok condition, but I have a hard time believing he believes he is an excellent physical specimen. Yet, there he is, holding himself up as someone you ought to listen to on the subject of weightlifting.
I also found that video to be funny. However, I must admit, because he blogs in Finnish, I may be missing his meaning.
The word that he used which was translated for me as "nigger" was the Finnish word "nakeeri."
That word may have a different connotation in Finland. Or, he may be using it in some sort of ironic, or comedic way. Or, he might just be a racist.
Michael has a point!
I'd forgotten about that. It's been a while since I dealt with the issue directly with "immigrants."
What did SL do, exactly, to get into trouble? Criticize Islam? Criticize the government? Criticize a Moslem in the government?
It's hard to pin down what's going on. I don't read Finnish.
AOW,
It's very hard to pin down what he is accused of. From stuff I have written, he seems to be accused of inciting racial hatred, and running "filth blogs" which from what I can tell, feature pornography and comments about Finnish politicians.
It sounds like something Seppo Lehto would do, from what I see of him.
It is something I would do. In fact, it is something I have done, as you can see in the top link on this post.
:)
Pastorius,
I understand what you're saying. From what I've seen of his work, I agree.
oh see you man and all people here, any one if proud of what this dog doing, when is saying I am not guilty, never his hand or his mouse bleive what is said by bim, I cannot believe that kind of fire will worn your body. you will see, I am not threatening you, but this is the truth. Mohammed is the prophet of Allah, how dare you saying and doing that.who will accept your appologies, you made big fault. where you will flew from your fat.
how shit are you seppo lehto are you fuck in around us don't forget about this word i gonna KILL YOU
Post a Comment