Two years jail in Finland for Insensitivity towards Islam

A disturbing case from Europe, where Seppo Lehto has been jailed for two years for hate speech, including violating religious sensibilities.

Now the man in question is an objectionable racist, He is an extremely offensive individual.

But just as I don’t support David Irving going to jail for denying the Holocaust, I don’t support Seppo Lehto going to jail for saying offensive things. I recall the words of Noam Chomsky who said something along the lines of there being no virtue in defending popular speech.

Unless the speech is directly inciting violence or criminal acts, it should not be a crime to say offensive things which upset religious sensitivities.