MediaWatchWatch has found this letter in The Muslim News from Neil Addison on the proposed Incitement to Religious Hatred Law…

Sir, In your editorial comment on the proposed Incitement to Religious Hatred Law you said “Sir, John Stevens, said in October 2001, that he sent hate mails received by Muslims after September 11, to the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) to see if prosecutions can be brought against them. When challenged by The Muslim News that as the CPS will not be able to prosecute the cases as incitement to religious hatred was legal, he acknowledged that there was a need for the outlawing of incitement to religious hatred.”

Can I just point out that the sending of “Hate mail” is already a crime contrary to s1 Malicious Communications Act 1988. If more than one piece of “hate mail” is sent then it is a crime contrary to s2 Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and if religiously aggravated ie inspired by religious hatred there is a maximum sentence of 2 years imprisonment.

You also accuse Liberal and Conservative MPs and the media of whipping up “ an atmosphere of revulsion by effectively putting Satanists, witches and even child molesters on a par with the protection of Muslims”.

Can I just point out that even the Government itself has accepted that Witchcraft and Satanism will be regarded as a “religion or belief” for the purpose of this legislation

Part of the problem with this entire debate on the Religious Hatred law is that nobody who supports the Bill has come up yet with an example of behaviour which should be prosecuted but which is not already a criminal offence. If anyone can give me such an example I would be glad to hear it

Yours,
Neil Addison (Barrister)

I know I’ve said it before, but this bill is badly thought out, badly drafted and was dreamt up by Labour primarily to try and win over Muslim voters following the fall in Labour’s support after the Iraq war. As it stands, it is creating false and unrealistic expectations in some sections of the community which - when the inacuracy of these beliefs becomes apparent - will cause far more harm than any imagined benefit.

And, at this point, I will leave the final word to Polly Toynbee

The irony is that those spending most time in the courts will be the religious themselves. A similar law in Australia brought a burst of litigation and demands for arrests from one bunch of fundamentalists against another. Hate-filled evangelicals were creeping into mosques to take notes on imams’ hate sermons. So extreme Jews, Muslims, Hindus, papists and Paisleyites will all challenge each other’s fiery thought crimes while the Bible and the Qur’an incite enough religious hatred to be banned outright.

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