Another European Politician Prosecuted For Criticizing Islam

Thanks to our Anonymous commenter:

Earth Times:

"Vienna - Austrian far-right parliamentarian Susanne Winter was convicted Thursday of incitement because of her anti-Muslim statements, including the claim that Islam's prophet Mohammed was a paedophile. A court in Winter's home town of Graz also found the 51-year-old politician guilty of humiliating a religion. She was sentenced to a fine of 24,000 euros (31,000 dollars) euros and a suspended prison term of three months, Austrian news agency APA reported.

The politician, who took a seat in parliament last fall for the Freedom Party (FPOe), made the anti-Islamic remarks in January 2008. She also proposed in a discussion with students that Muslim men should commit bestiality rather than making "indecent advances" on girls. "

Anonymous' comment -

How can you 'humiliate' a religion? And if a 50 year old man who 'thighs' a six year old and rapes her when she is nine isn't s pedophile, then who is?

Well, that woman knows how to go for the jugular. A comedian or an artist could, of course, get away with saying such a thing about Christian men. So, why can't a politician say it.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the FPO, which was, at one time, Jorg Haider's party. But really, that is beside the point. The point is this; do we have Free Speech, or not?

If there is to be a boundary on Free Speech, the line ought to be drawn at incitement to violence. I can support that.

But, there was no incitement to violence here.

And, the language used, that she "humiliated" Islam. That is drawn directly from the language of Islamists.

So, this is another example of creeping Sharia. A European court adopting the language of Islamists in the prosecution of a European citizen.

It is important to note, however, that Allah is the only deity of any "major religion" who can be humiliated. Allah is a very sensitive god. Almost as if he is insecure that there is One Greater than he.

Robert Spencer adds:

Of course, the whole concept of pedophilia did not exist in Muhammad's day, but when he is taken as the supreme example of human conduct and imitated today, what results is...pedophilia. Muhammad's consummation of his marriage with Aisha when she was nine is in the hadith collection Muslims consider most reliable, Bukhari, several times:5.48.234; 5.58.236; 7.62.64; 7.62.65; and 7.62.88.

What's more, it is clear that Muslims take this seriously and imitate Muhammad in this. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: “Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed.”

The Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing,” and advised the faithful: “Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house.”

Time magazine reported in 2001: "In Iran the legal age for marriage is nine for girls, fourteen for boys. The law has occasionally been exploited by pedophiles, who marry poor young girls from the provinces, use and then abandon them. In 2000 the Iranian Parliament voted to raise the minimum age for girls to fourteen, but this year, a legislative oversight body dominated by traditional clerics vetoed the move.