Friday, October 30, 2020



Norwegian police ‘apologize’ for ordering local to take down drawings of Prophet Mohammed he put up in defense of free speech

Norwegian police have admitted they were wrong in asking a local man to tear down cartoons of Prophet Mohammed which he had hung around the town in response to the gruesome murder of a teacher in France.

A man in his 40s, who wished to remain anonymous, printed out cartoons of Prophet Mohammed and hung them around the town of Kongsberg last week. He chose popular places like the local mall and cinema, as well as bus stops, to make sure the cartoons would be seen by as many people as possible.

The man explained to the public broadcaster NRK that he wanted to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and that “Islam cannot have any special protection in a free society.” He added that he wanted an “honest conversation about Islam without people getting labeled as racists and fascists.”

While the individual, who is also a father to small children, according to media reports, admitted that he wanted to see if the cartoons would provoke any reaction from police, he said he did not expect four officers to come knocking at his door the very same day.

He told the Human Rights Service NGO that police were concerned that Muslims would be offended by the drawings. The officers argued that the posters were put up without a permit, so they ordered him to take them down and to never do anything like that again, the man said. According to him, the officers even threatened him with legal action.

UNI's president cites free speech in overruling student leaders, allowing anti-abortion group to form on campus

University of Northern Iowa President Mark Nook has ruled that a local chapter of the national Students for Life of America organization, an advocacy group that opposes abortion, will be allowed to form a student group on campus.

"This was a decision that ultimately came down to the First Amendment and students' right to not only free speech, but free assembly," Nook said in an interview Tuesday with the Iowa City Press-Citizen. "And if we don't protect that right for any group, then we can't protect it for every group."

Nook's ruling overrules an earlier decision by UNI student government, which denied Students for Life's application to form a group on campus. The student government had said the group could create a hostile environment and would not be formed in "good faith," a requirement for student groups to form under UNI policy.

Although not all members of the student government agreed, the majority decision of the student Supreme Court wrote that Students for Life's application was "lacking in evidence of being an equitable, just and welcoming student organization for our students and community found on campus of the University of Northern Iowa."

Students for Life leaders appealed the decision to President Nook last week, and Nook weighed in on the matter in a letter to students government leaders and a representative of the Students for Life group Sunday, overturning the previous decisions.

Nook wrote that the student government overlooked the school's policies protecting free speech and appeared to make its denial "based on the content of the student organization's viewpoint, speech and assumed potential activities."

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http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

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http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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