(VOA News) The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that online videos considered by a Belgian court to be Islamist hate speech were not protected under free speech provisions. Fouad Belkacem, a Belgian national, is currently imprisoned for his activities as the head of Sharia4Belgium, an organization banned for recruiting foreign fighters to participate in militant activities in the Middle East. In the videos, Belkacem called on viewers to "overpower non-Muslims, teach them a lesson and fight them," content the Court called "markedly hateful." The ECHR upheld the 2013 decision of Belgium's top court, which found that, far from simply expressing his views, Belkacem had incited others to discriminate on the basis of faith and to violence against non-Muslims.
2017-07-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive