Farid Hafez

Political Scientist, Visiting Professor of International Studies at Williams College, Senior Fellow at Bridge Initiative/Georgetown University

The Islamophobes behind the European court’s rejection of a case over prophet slur

Recently, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled against a woman who claimed calling the Prophet Muhammad a pedophile was protected by free speech. The woman behind the appeal was fined €480 ($625) or an alternative sentence of 60 days in prison and was required to pay the costs of the trial before in 2009 a complaint was filed against her for hate speech and found her guilty in 2011. But who is this woman, who tried to fight this through all domestic courts up to the ECHR? Read full commentary here