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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Fallaci Exhibit At Nobel Peace Center

From this source, on May 26, 2008:
Nobel Peace Center opens controversial Fallaci exhibition

An exhibition dedicated to the late Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, known in her later years for a fiercely anti-Islamic stance, has gone on display at Nobel Peace Center exhibition hall in Norway's capital city of Oslo.

The exhibition includes an article by Fallaci titled "Islam as an Enemy," while movies screened within the exhibition hall portray Islam as a dangerous religion. The exhibition, in which the Quran is defined by Fallaci as "the most dangerous book ever written," drew immediate reaction from Muslim visitors.

Nobel Peace Center Director Bente Erichsen spoke to the Cihan news agency and explained that the exhibition had been held within the scope of freedom of expression. Erichsen said they welcome everybody's ideas and added: "We have hosted the ideas of many people, whether we liked their ideas or not, in our exhibition hall. This is the realization of our perception of freedom of expression."

Fallaci generated great controversy in the Islamic world when she wrote an article about Islam in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Erichsen noted freedom of expression was letting people say whatever they want to say and added, "We need to give this opportunity to Italian journalist Fallaci, too, even if we do not like her ideas."

Fallaci died on Sept. 15, 2006 at the age of 77. The Italian journalist was famed for her interviews and war reports but became notorious in later life for her Islamophobia. At the time of her death she faced trial in her native Italy on charges of vilifying Islam.

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