Yorkshire man Azhar Ahmed has been given a community order after being found guilty of “sending a grossly offensive communication”. Ahmed, 19, from West Yorkshire wrote on Facebook that “All soldiers should DIE & go to HELL!” This morning at Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court he was fined £300 and ordered to complete 240 hours of community service over a two-year period.
The UK government’s Defamation Bill goes to the House of Lords for its second reading debate today. Michael Harris explains why it’s vital that the government acts to protect free speech
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The following letter calling for greater defamation law reform, including limiting corporations ability to use libel law to silence civil society critics, was coordinated by Index on Censorship and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange network (IFEX)
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A man who admitted to posting “despicable” comments about missing five-year-old April Jones on his Facebook page has been jailed for 12 weeks. Matthew Woods appeared at Chorley Magistrates’ Court today, where he pleaded guilty to “sending by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive” (section 127 (1) a of the Communications Act 2003). Woods’ comments, which included some of a sexually explicit nature about the youngster who went missing last week, were deemed so “abhorrent” that they deserved the longest sentence that could be passed, less a third to account for Woods’ early guilty plea.