ESW: Thoughts Before Trial

Early tomorrow morning Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff will appear in a Vienna courtroom and learn the verdict in the appeal against her conviction last winter on hate speech charges. I’ve posted Elisabeth’s “Thoughts Before Trial” at FrontPage Mag today. Some excerpts are below:

Thoughts Before Trial

Tomorrow morning, Tuesday December 20th, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff will learn the results of her appeal to Austria’s highest court.

As described in this space a few weeks ago (See Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), Elisabeth was charged last year with “denigration of religious beliefs of a legally recognized religion” for asserting that “Mohammed had a thing for little girls.” In February of this year she was convicted, and will have to pay a fine of up to €480. If she refuses to pay the fine, she may spend a maximum of two months in jail.

The court did not contest the truth of Mohammed’s marriage to a six-year-old, nor the fact that the Prophet of Islam had consummated the marriage when his bride was nine. The judge could hardly disagree with these facts, since they are confirmed by authoritative scholars in all branches of Islam.

No, Elisabeth was convicted despite the truth of what she said. She was found guilty because her words were deemed offensive to Muslims. As we all know by now, the truth is no defense when Muslims are offended. Anyone who offends a Muslim in Modern Multicultural Austria now risks criminal prosecution.

On Tuesday she will learn whether the judge in the higher court is a man of integrity. Common sense would tell him that the case against Elisabeth was a farrago of justice, and should be thrown out on the merits. But common sense is sorely lacking these days in Europe.

Elisabeth has been pondering the legal nightmare she has been trapped in for the last two years, and sends the following meditation on the day before she learns the verdict in her appeal:

Thoughts Before Trial

Tis the season to be… What?

For some people it may well be the season to be jolly. For me, it is the season to be hopeful.

Once again I am in the midst of preparing for what may well be a watershed concerning freedom of speech and opinion within the European Union. The trial’s outcome could shape the limits on permissible speech under secular law. My conviction earlier this year implicitly used religious law — in this case, Sharia law — in its arguments.

[…]

Read the rest at FrontPage Mag.

The usual suspects will be live-blogging Elisabeth’s trial tomorrow, as will I. Her case will be heard very early in the morning — about 3am to 5am EST. In the event I’m a slugabed and fail to mirror the posts in real time, check Save Free Speech or Tundra Tabloids for live-blog reports in English.


For previous posts on the “hate speech” prosecution of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, see Elisabeth’s Voice: The Archives.