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Archive for the ‘Hate Speech’ Category

The Crown Prosecution Service Press Release on Gareth Hemingway: “Conviction for uploading racist videos to YouTube

15/11/2010

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has successfully prosecuted a man for distributing racially inflammatory recordings after he uploaded racist video clips to the video-sharing website YouTube. Gareth Hemingway pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to five offences under section 21(1) of the Public Order Act 1986 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Following sentencing today at Leeds Crown Court, Stuart Laidlaw, reviewing lawyer for the CPS, said: ‘Freedom of speech carries with it responsibilities. Publishing something that is abusive and insulting and that is likely to stir up racial hatred is against the law and the CPS will work with the police to prosecute robustly anyone who does so.

‘Gareth Hemingway decided to use the very public forum of YouTube to distribute videos of a racist and inflammatory nature which he had edited, and which were designed to provoke violence against ethnic minorities, particularly those living in Dewsbury.

‘They called for a racial holy war, described acts of violence and made supportive references to far right groups such as Combat 18 and POWER (Patriots of White European Resistance).’

Mr Laidlaw said that using the internet as a forum for distributing this type of material does not guarantee anonymity. He said: ‘Using the internet does not mean that people are immune from prosecution. They can be tracked down and prosecuted, as this case shows.’

Gareth Hemingway was prosecuted in relation to five videos that he uploaded to YouTube between January and June 2007. They included titles such as ‘red, white and blue through and through’, ‘oi monkey’ and ‘Dewsbury needs help’, and featured racist references and imagery including an assault on a black man by a white man.

When police arrested Gareth Hemingway, they found a collection of Nazi and racist memorabilia at his home.

The material came to the attention of the police when a local journalist researching Dewsbury on the internet came across the videos Gareth Hemingway had posted and reported them. Following an appeal in the Dewsbury Reporter, Gareth Hemingway was identified in an anonymous call to Crimestoppers.”

(Via .)

Extremist websites skyrocketing, says Interpol: “(BBC)
The sharp growth in extremist websites is making recruitment much easier for al-Qaeda, according to Interpol head Ronald Noble. ‘The threat is global, it is virtual and it is on our doorsteps,’ he said. Mr Noble told a conference of police chiefs in Paris there were 12 sites in 1998 and 4,500 by 2006. He said tackling radicalisation had been made far harder by the internet because many of the activities involved were not criminal. Increasingly, he said, the individuals targeted were young and vulnerable and from middle-class backgrounds. A researcher at the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation told the BBC that the number of radical websites was now far higher than the figure given by Interpol.

“

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

INTERPOL media release
21 September 2010

Preventing Internet radicalization of youth requires global police network, INTERPOL Chief tells police summit Secretary General warns of threat posed by ’skyrocketing’ number of extremist websites…

The International Association of Chiefs of Police summit heard Secretary General Noble (pictured left, top photo) warn of the increasing radicalization of the youth by extremists exploiting the Internet. The head of INTERPOL spoke alongside IACP President Michael Carroll and the Director of the French National Police, Frédéric Péchenard.

PARIS, France – An international gathering of senior police officials focusing on terrorism and the prevention of the radicalization of youth has heard the head of INTERPOL describe the era of the Internet as easing the path to radicalization, which he said was a global threat that only international police networks could fully address.

Speaking at the two-day International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) summit (21-22 September) in Paris – alongside IACP President Michael Carroll and the Director of the French National Police, Frédéric Péchenard – INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said that terrorist recruiters exploited the web to their full advantage as they targeted young, middle class vulnerable individuals who were usually not ‘on the radar of law enforcement’.

“The advent of the Internet has made the process of radicalization easier to achieve and the process of combating it that much more difficult, because many of the behaviors associated with it are not in and of themselves criminal,” said Secretary General Noble.

“The threat is global; it is virtual; and it is on our doorsteps,” said the head of INTERPOL, pointing to the ‘skyrocketing’ number of extremist websites, from 12 in 1998 to 4,500 just eight years later.

Mr Noble said that preventing radicalization required police to use international police networks, and that in this respect INTERPOL was uniquely placed to support police worldwide as a network of law enforcement agencies from 188 member countries, linking police worldwide via its I-24/7 global police communications system, global databases and network of National Central Bureaus, so as to empower front-line officers with access to the information they need to establish the links between terrorism and other criminal activities.

With INTERPOL having created its database of stolen and lost travel documents (SLTD) in response to the threat posed by terrorists using fraudulent passports to plan or carry out attacks, the world police body’s chief said that with more than 22 million records submitted by more than 150 countries, the database was the only global repository of its kind.

The police summit also heard that through INTERPOL’s global network of anti-terrorist specialists, that more than 120 member countries contribute data on active terrorist groups through INTERPOL’s Fusion Task Force, its primary counter-terrorism initiative. The registry includes close to 10,000 names of wanted or suspected terrorists.

“It is only through INTERPOL’s network that this type of information can be disseminated quickly throughout the world in order for law enforcement to effectively counter the virtual base of operations which extremists exploit on the Internet,” said Mr Noble.

The two-day IACP summit, which also brings under its umbrella FRANCOPOL, the association representing the international French-speaking police community, will review the issue of youth in terrorist and radical activities, recruitment methods by terrorist recruiters, as well as the role of law enforcement in de-radicalization programmes and prevention strategies.

White supremacists jailed over ‘vicious’ online messages – Crime, UK – The Independent: “White supremacists jailed over ‘vicious’ online messages

By Mike Hornby, Press Association

Friday, 25 June 2010

Two white supremacists were jailed today after being convicted of posting violent and vicious racist messages on the internet.

Michael Heaton, 42, and Trevor Hannington, 58, described Jews as ’scum’ and called for them to be ‘destroyed’.

The ‘proud neo-Nazis’ were unanimously cleared of soliciting murder at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday but Heaton was jailed today for 30 months after being convicted of four counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words likely to stir up racial hatred.

Hannington previously admitted two counts of stirring up racial hatred, two further counts of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism and disseminating a terrorist publication.

He was jailed for two years.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Irwin told Heaton, of Leigh, in Wigan, Greater Manchester, his internet posts were ‘vicious and repulsive’.

He added: ‘You saw yourself as the leader of a potentially significant and active National Socialist group.

‘Your sustained racist rants were intended to bolster that group.

‘You wanted to start a race war.

‘You are clearly filled with racial hatred and also with violent and angry beliefs.’

The judge told Heaton his words were of the most ‘insulting and extreme nature’ marked by ‘violent racism’ and said only a significant jail term was acceptable.

Hannington, from Hirwaun, Cardiff, was described as a loner by the judge, who told him: ‘You are a long standing racist who has never hidden your views, which are violent and vicious in the extreme.

‘You are a lonely man with little in your life.

‘You habitually told lies about a non-existent army career and your knowledge of survival techniques in an attempt to gain status.

‘You are, to some degree, pitiable in this, however repugnant what you said.’

Heaton, a packer for a food company, was jailed for 30 months for each of his four offences, to run concurrently.

He nodded to the judge and said he understood as he was taken to the cells.

He admitted in police interviews he was a founder member of the Aryan Strike Force (ASF), whose goal was ‘the eradication of ethnic minorities from Britain’, the prosecution said.

In one posting on the ASF website, he said of Jews: ‘They will always be scum, destroy ‘em with whatever it takes.’

He also wrote: ‘I would encourage any religion or race that wants to destroy the Jews, I hate them with a passion.’

And in another posting he said Jews were leeches and ‘treacherous f****** scum’ and that black people were ‘less intelligent than other species’.

Heaton made more than 3,000 posts on the ASF site between January and June 2008, before he had a ‘bust-up’ with the organisation and created his own, the British Freedom Fighters (BFF).

The website changed its name to Legion 88 and then Wolfpack, before it was closed down.

The trial jury, nine of whom returned to court for today’s sentencing, were told the number eight refers to the eighth letter in the alphabet, H. So 88 stands for HH, as in Heil Hitler, a common greeting for neo-Nazis.

Both men had a number of user names when they posted their comments on the website. Heaton called himself Wigan Mike, and then later Lenny.

David Fish, mitigating for Heaton, said the defendant had been banned from accessing the internet while on bail and was no longer involved in the BFF.

He said: ‘(Heaton) has, in effect, shed the habit and lost interest in putting up these posts.’

Hannington admitted he was an administrator for the ASF, Legion 88 and Wolfpack websites and gave himself the user names Fist, Lee 88 and Paul.

He pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred with internet posts stating his beliefs that Jews were ‘parasites feeding on others’ and ‘utterly evil sub-beings’.

The self-employed builder also posted the message: ‘Kill the Jew, Kill the Jew, Burn down a synagogue today! Burn the scum.’

Hannington admitted owning the Anarchist’s Cookbook, Kitchen Complete and The Terrorist Encyclopaedia, all of which are considered useful tools to someone preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

He also admitted publishing a post on the internet with instructions on how to make a flame thrower out of a water pistol.

Richard Mansell QC, for Hannington, said: ‘There is a significant element of the fantasist about him and the jury’s verdict accepts the posts were made without a great deal of thought but are, nevertheless, extremely offensive.

‘Having had the terror books he never made any effort to produce such items or seek components for them.

‘He has reflected on the language he used and his conduct and he also recognises he has problems with alcohol and anger management.’

Hannington showed no emotion as he was jailed for a total of two years for all his offences.

As he was convicted under the Terrorism Act he must inform the police of his home address for the next 10 years.

When police raided the homes of both men they found an array of weapons, including knives and firearms.

Heaton’s bedroom was adorned in flags with symbols of far-right movements, and a samurai sword hung above his bed.

Elsewhere around the house officers found numchucks, batons, knives and knuckle dusters hanging on the walls, and a BB machine gun was also recovered at the property.

Flags bearing swastikas were strewn around Hannington’s house and police found a personal armoury including an air rifle and daggers.

Mr Justice Irwin ordered the weapons to be destroyed, along with the defendants’ home computers.

Speaking outside court, Detective Chief Superintendent David Buxton, head of the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, said he respected the sentences.

He added: ‘Today we have seen that voicing violent extremism will not be tolerated.’

Stuart Laidlaw, the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division lawyer, said: ‘As members of the ASF, Hannington and Heaton were closely associated with Ian Davison who was recently convicted of terrorism offences and of producing the poison ricin.

‘They enjoyed similar links with his son, Nicky Davison, who was also recently convicted of terrorism offences.

‘We considered this to be a very serious case and on the evidence presented to us by police, the public interest required a prosecution.’

The ASF is the latest in a long line of Neo-Nazi groups with a mission to promote the National Socialist principles of Adolf Hitler, Mr Laidlaw said.

He added the organisation’s members appeared to venerate Hitler and deny the Holocaust.

The lawyer said: ‘Holding unpleasant and offensive views is not illegal.

‘However, people cross the line when they urge others to take violent direct action, especially after they download terror manuals on how to produce explosives – or, as in Ian Davison’s case, ricin.

‘Both juries saw some thoroughly unpleasant material which contained views which most people would find obnoxious and abhorrent.

‘We would like to thank them for performing their duty in these cases.’

Neo-Nazis sentenced to 4 and a half years jail at Liverpool Crown Court > National News > News | Click Liverpool: “Neo-Nazis sentenced to 4 and a half years jail at Liverpool Crown Court
by Simon Boyle. Published Fri 25 Jun 2010 12:17

Two Neo-Nazis have been sentenced to a total of four-and-a-half years behind bars by a judge at Liverpool Crown Court, for inciting racial hatred.

Food packer Michael Heaton, 42, was handed a 30-month jail term for ‘using threatening and abusive language likely to stir up racial hatred’.

His co-defendant Trevor Hannington, 58, was sentenced to two years after admitting six offences and being found guilty by a jury of the same offence as Heaton.

Passing sentence Judge Stephen Irwin QC said: ‘You clearly intended to stir-up racial hatred on behalf of the organisation

‘In my judgement you saw yourself as the leader of a potentially significant National Socialist Group. You wanted to start a race war. You were clearly filled with racial hatred and you have certainly given that impression in court.

‘This offence is so serious and your character is so distorted by racial hatred that only a significant sentence will suffice.’

The judge told Hannington: ‘You are a long-standing racist and you have never hidden those views. You are a lonely man with little in your life.

‘You lived in a shambles. You habitually told lies in an attempt to gain status but it is clear that you are largely a fantasist.’

In a 12-day trial the court had earlier heard that Heaton idolised Nazi warlord Rudolf Hess and kept piles of memorabilia including swaztikas and a fearsome armoury of weapons.

Heaton was convicted on four counts of ‘using threatening and abusive language likely to stir up racial hatred’.

At an earlier hearing, Hannington, admitted six further counts of using threatening and abusive language, and possessing notorious terrorism handbooks ‘The Anarchists Cookbook’ and ‘The Complete Improvise Kitchen’.

The jury heard that both Hannington and Heaton published a string of vile messages on the Aryan Strike Force website, which the pair operated together, between January and June 2008.

Hannington, of Cardiff, South Wales, described as a lonely ‘Walter Mitty’ character, also admitted posting instructions for making a home made flame-thrower on the site operated from his home.

Heaton was found not guilty on two counts of ’soliciting to murder’. Hannington was also found not guilty of ’soliciting to murder’.

Hannington’s hate-filled postings include messages which read: ‘Kill the Jew, Kill the Jew, Burn the synagogues, and Burn the Scum’.

Heaton wrote, ‘Jews will always be scum, and must be destroyed, I would encourage any race who wants to destroy the Jews, I hate them with a passion.’

The court was also told of Heaton’s connections with other convicted neo-nazi extremists, including Mark Atkinson, who was jailed for five years in 2005 for publishing racial hatred in a right-wing magazine called Stormer.

Heaton’s relationship with another activist, named only as Maroney, was also described. Maroney is currently serving a life sentence after ‘fire-bombing’ the home of a Yemeni neighbour, before firing a crossbow wildly down the street, and for sexually assaulting his girlfriend.

The court heard that Heaton, who describes himself as ’slightly National Socialist’, had expressed his anger at Maroney’s conviction on the ASF website, writing: ‘Life, for singeing a Paki’s grass!’

The court heard that Michael Heaton had made more than 3,000 obscene and inflammatory postings on the website under a string of pseudonyms while his co defendant operated under the aliases of Fist and Lee88.

During a search of Heaton’s home, in Greater Manchester, detectives unearthed large quantities of Nazi and Hitler-related material, and a vast array of weapons.

A copy of the Nazi dictator’s book, Mein Kampf, was also available to users of the website.

But in interview Heaton confessed that the man he really he idolised Hitler’s upper-class henchman Rudolf Hess.

Throughout the trial, jurors were shown evidence of the pair’s neo-nazi activities, including a series of videos designed for the training of extremists and activists which featured Mr Heaton violently attacking another man, in a demonstration of strength and aggression.

Further images showed 6 ft 2 inch Heaton at a Neo-Nazi demonstration in Manchester where he was seen making the Nazi salute.

Judge Irwin QC ordered the destruction of a cache of lethal weapons including knuckledusters, flick knives, and and scythes found at Heaton’s home in Greater Manchester.

BBC News – Neo-Nazis jailed over anti-Jewish internet posts

Page last updated at 13:51 GMT, Friday, 25 June 2010 14:51 UK

Michael Heaton and Trevor Hannington Heaton and Hannington wanted to rid Britain of ethnic minorities

Two white supremacists who posted racist internet messages calling for Jews to be destroyed have been jailed.

Michael Heaton, 42, of Leigh, Greater Manchester, and Trevor Hannington, 58, from Cardiff, described Jews as ’scum’ and encouraged people to kill them.

The self-proclaimed neo-Nazis were both cleared of soliciting murder. Heaton was convicted of stirring up racial hatred – a charge Hannington admitted.

Heaton was jailed for 30 months and Hannington for two years.
‘Race war’

Justice Irwin told Heaton his words were of the most ‘insulting and extreme nature’ marked by ‘violent racism’ and said only a significant jail term was acceptable.

The 42-year-old food packer admitted in a police interview that he was a founder member of the Aryan Strike Force (ASF), whose goal was ‘the eradication of ethnic minorities from Britain’, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

The judge told him: ‘You saw yourself as the leader of a potentially significant and active National Socialist group.
Continue reading the main story

You are a lonely man with little in your life

Justice Irwin Liverpool Crown Court

‘Your sustained racist rants were intended to bolster that group.

‘You wanted to start a race war.

‘You are clearly filled with racial hatred and also with violent and angry beliefs.’

The court was told that Heaton had posted 3,000 messages on his ASF website between January and June 2008.

He wrote: ‘I would encourage any religion or race that wants to destroy the Jews, I hate them with a passion.’

In another posting he said Jews were ‘leeches’ and ’scum’ and that black people were ‘less intelligent than other species’.

Hannington, from Hirwaun, Cardiff, was described as a loner by the judge, who told him: ‘You are a long-standing racist who has never hidden your views, which are violent and vicious in the extreme.

‘You are a lonely man with little in your life.’

The 58-year-old builder admitted he was an administrator for the ASF website and one of his posts read: ‘Kill the Jew, Kill the Jew, burn down a synagogue today! Burn the scum.’
Michael Heaton’s bedroom Heaton’s bedroom was adorned with Nazi flags and national front posters

When police raided the homes of both men they found a whole collection of knives and firearms.

Heaton’s bedroom was adorned in flags with symbols of far-right movements, and a samurai sword hung above his bed.

Elsewhere around the house officers found numchucks, batons, knives and knuckle dusters hanging on the walls, and a BB machine gun was also recovered.

Flags bearing swastikas were strewn around Hannington’s house and police found a personal armoury including an air rifle and daggers.
‘Anarchist’s Cookbook’

David Fish, mitigating for Heaton, said the defendant had been banned from accessing the internet while on bail and was no longer involved in the BFF.

He said: ‘Heaton has, in effect, shed the habit and lost interest in putting up these posts.’

Hannington’s defence claimed he was a ‘fantasist’ and the jury’s verdict accepted the posts were made without a great deal of thought.

However, Hannington also admitted owning the Anarchist’s Cookbook, Kitchen Complete and The Terrorist Encyclopaedia, all of which are considered useful tools to someone preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

Mr Justice Irwin ordered the weapons to be destroyed, along with the defendants’ home computers.

Stuart Laidlaw, the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division lawyer, said: ‘As members of the ASF, Hannington and Heaton were closely associated with Ian Davison who was recently convicted of terrorism offences and of producing the poison ricin.

‘They enjoyed similar links with his son, Nicky Davison, who was also recently convicted of terrorism offences.

‘We considered this to be a very serious case and on the evidence presented to us by police, the public interest required a prosecution.’

OSCE Press release – European human rights bodies call for decisive action against racism and xenophobia

WARSAW, STRASBOURG, VIENNA, 19 March 2010 – In a joint statement ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) strongly condemn manifestations of racism and xenophobia, with a particular focus on the Internet:

“We must remain vigilant in the face of racist behaviour and incidents, including hate crimes and malicious expressions of hate and racist sentiments on the Internet.

“Our organizations are alarmed by patterns and manifestations of racism such as the ever-increasing use of the Internet by racist groups for recruitment, radicalisation, command and control, as well as for the intimidation and harassment of opponents. The Internet has become an important communications channel that links people in ‘cyberspace’, who then meet and take action in the physical world.

“Social networking sites are now prime locations for the spread of racist and xenophobic views, especially among young people. We must challenge such views, while being careful not to undermine freedom of expression.

“The danger emanating from hate spread through the Internet has long been recognized by the international community and our organizations dedicate serious attention to this issue. Prominent examples include ECRI’s General Policy Recommendation N° 6 on Combating the Dissemination of Racist, Xenophobic and Antisemitic Material via the Internet and the upcoming 22 March ODIHR expert meeting on challenges of combating crimes motivated by hate on the Internet.

“At the same time, we strongly believe in the Internet’s huge potential to overcome bias and prejudices based on characteristics including race, colour, language, nationality or national origin or religion. This potential should be fully utilized.

“We, the signatories of this statement, believe that:

- governments should investigate and prosecute criminal threats of violence based on racial, ethnic, religious or other bias and fully use existing domestic and international legal instruments and co-operation channels in this regard;
- governments should provide training to law enforcement officers and prosecutors on addressing hate crimes motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias on the Internet;
- governments should reflect on whether national legislation provides an adequate basis to respond to crimes motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias on the Internet;
- governments should establish or expand educational programmes for children and young people about expressions motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias they may encounter on the Internet and include media literacy training in school curricula;
- effective measures addressing hate on the Internet that do not endanger freedom of speech and expression should be identified and disseminated;
- civil society should explore ways of utilizing the popularity of social networking sites to combat racism;
- civil society’s efforts to monitor the Internet for manifestations of hate, and efforts to share and publicise the findings should be encouraged and supported;
- the Internet industry should take an active role in addressing the issue of hate on the Internet and develop and implement effective complaints response mechanisms while respecting freedom of expression.”

Ambassador Janez Lenarcic
Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Morten Kjaerum
Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

Nils Muiznieks
Chair of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)

FOXNews.com – Terrorists Targeting Children Via Facebook, Twitter

Updated March 15, 2010
Terrorists Targeting Children Via Facebook, Twitter
FOXNews.com

The Internet grew 20 percent uglier last year, with terrorists and racists increasingly turning to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter — and targeting children, finds the 2010 Digital Hate Report.

The CD-ROM report, put out annually by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance, aims to assist law enforcement, public officials, educators, parents and the news media to better grasp the scope of hate.

The report, based on some 11,500 problematic Web sites, social networks , chat forums, twitter posts, other Internet postings, found that hate-filled language is increasingly filling social networks. In compiling it, researchers for the Wiesenthal center found such disturbing online content as video footage showing bomb-making instructions and hate games — including one about bombing Haitian earthquake victims.

The report found a 20% increase to 11,500 in hate-filled social networks, Web sites, forums, blogs, Twitter feeds, and so on (up from 10,000 last year). It notes that beyond its role in our social lives, the Internet often acts as the incubator and validator of dangerous conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 and organ theft.

The lone wolf terrorist, once primarily a domestic extremist character, is now a role heavily promoted by terrorist groups, found the 2010 Digital Hate Report.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center just released the Digital Terrorism and Hate 2010 report, identifying the Web’s most dangerous and offensive content. Here’s the Web’s worst sites.

The Wiesenthal Center uncovered expanded ‘how-to’ posts for terrorists, including binary and laser technology. And even more disturbing, the Center found hate games, including one inviting the user to bomb Haitian earthquake victims, continue to target young people

It’s all part of a trend of terrorists targeting young people, the report indicates, a finding supported by recent news reports. Over the weekend, FoxNews.com reported that the 6-year-old son of a Colorado nursing student who ran off to Europe to join a terrorist murder cell was brainwashed into a hate-filled Islamic fundamentalist zombie, his family said Saturday. Her family said she struck up an Internet friendship with a Colorado radical.

And court records and other documents show that Colleen LaRose — or ‘Jihad Jane’ — may have used YouTube as part of her alleged trail of terrorist activities.

The report was presented at a press conference at the New York Tolerance Center by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal center, a pioneer in digital hate and terror, and Mark Weitzman, the center’s director of government affairs. Representative Carolyn Maloney joined in the unveiling as well.

The report is used by the FBI, Homeland Security, military officials, hate crime units and joint terrorism taskforces in the U.S. as well as Canada and Europe.

Internet race hate pair petition Supreme Court – Peterborough Today

Published on Wed Mar 24 13:55:27 GMT 2010

A Lancashire man who became the first to be convicted of inciting racial hatred online is to petition the Supreme Court for leave to appeal against the convictions.

The move by Stephen Whittle, along with Simon Sheppard who was also convicted of the crime, follows the decision of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division to certify three points of law in the case – although it denied permission to appeal, meaning the pair have to petition the Supreme Court directly.

Lawyers for the two men confirmed that they would be filing petitions with the Supreme Court. The case will raise important issues about whether material placed on the internet counts as written material, and whether the courts have jurisdiction in cases involving material posted online from abroad.

Sheppard, 52, and Whittle, 42, were jailed at Leeds Crown Court in July last year after being convicted of Public Order Act charges of publishing and distributing racially inflammatory material and possessing such material with a view to distribution.

Sheppard, 52, of Brook Street, Selby, was convicted of 16 offences and Whittle, 42, of Avenham Lane, Preston, Lancashire, of five. In January the Court of Appeal rejected their appeals against conviction, but reduced Sheppard’s sentence of four years and 10 months by a year and Stephen Whittle’s term of two years and four months by six months.

The Court has now certified three issues in the case as a point of law of general public importance.

These cover whether a document stored in a computer memory and/or displayed on a screen is written material within the meaning of Section 29 of the Public Order Act 1986, the issue of the correct test of jurisdiction for criminal cases involving or arising from the use of the internet, and whether, for the purposes of Section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986, making material generally accessible or available to placing or offering it to the public via the internet counts as publication to the public or a section of the public.

During the appeal in January, Sheppard’s counsel, Adrian Davies, challenged the convictions on the grounds of jurisdiction, the meaning of ‘publication’ and whether material on the internet was ‘written material’ within the meaning of the Act. The articles complained of were posted on a website in California, where there was no doubt that they were ‘entirely lawful and enjoyed the highest degree of constitutional protection under the laws of the United States’, he said. There was also no evidence that anyone in England and Wales, except the police officer – and the Crown did not claim that he was a member of the public under the Act – had read any of them.

The police investigation which led to the pair being jailed started after a complaint about a leaflet called ‘Tales of the Holohoax’, which was pushed through the door of a Blackpool synagogue and traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard. Published material found later included images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups.

During their first trial in 2008, Sheppard and Whittle skipped bail and fled to California, where they sought asylum claiming they were being persecuted for their right-wing views. The claims failed and they were deported.

FOXNews.com – Terrorists Targeting Children Via Facebook, Twitter

Updated March 15, 2010
Terrorists Targeting Children Via Facebook, Twitter

FOXNews.com

The Internet grew 20 percent uglier last year, with terrorists and racists increasingly turning to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter — and targeting children, finds the 2010 Digital Hate Report.

The 2010 Digital Terror Report from the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance found a 20% increase in the prevalence of hate-filled Web sites–notably in social media like Facebook and Twitter.

The Internet grew 20 percent uglier last year, with terrorists and racists increasingly turning to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter — and targeting children, finds the 2010 Digital Hate Report.

The CD-ROM report, put out annually by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance, aims to assist law enforcement, public officials, educators, parents and the news media to better grasp the scope of hate.

The report, based on some 11,500 problematic Web sites, social networks , chat forums, twitter posts, other Internet postings, found that hate-filled language is increasingly filling social networks. In compiling it, researchers for the Wiesenthal center found such disturbing online content as video footage showing bomb-making instructions and hate games — including one about bombing Haitian earthquake victims.

The report found a 20% increase to 11,500 in hate-filled social networks, Web sites, forums, blogs, Twitter feeds, and so on (up from 10,000 last year). It notes that beyond its role in our social lives, the Internet often acts as the incubator and validator of dangerous conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 and organ theft.

The lone wolf terrorist, once primarily a domestic extremist character, is now a role heavily promoted by terrorist groups, found the 2010 Digital Hate Report.

The Wiesenthal Center uncovered expanded ‘how-to’ posts for terrorists, including binary and laser technology. And even more disturbing, the Center found hate games, including one inviting the user to bomb Haitian earthquake victims, continue to target young people

It’s all part of a trend of terrorists targeting young people, the report indicates, a finding supported by recent news reports. Over the weekend, FoxNews.com reported that the 6-year-old son of a Colorado nursing student who ran off to Europe to join a terrorist murder cell was brainwashed into a hate-filled Islamic fundamentalist zombie, his family said Saturday. Her family said she struck up an Internet friendship with a Colorado radical.

And court records and other documents show that Colleen LaRose — or ‘Jihad Jane’ — may have used YouTube as part of her alleged trail of terrorist activities.

The report was presented at a press conference at the New York Tolerance Center by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal center, a pioneer in digital hate and terror, and Mark Weitzman, the center’s director of government affairs. Representative Carolyn Maloney joined in the unveiling as well.

The report is used by the FBI, Homeland Security, military officials, hate crime units and joint terrorism taskforces in the U.S. as well as Canada and Europe.

New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney Joins Simon Wiesenthal Center Officials for Release of 2010 Digital Hate Report | Simon Wiesenthal Center

New York, NY – Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) joined, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (R), a pioneer in digital hate and terror, and Mark Weitzman (L), the Center’s Director of Government Affairs for the release of the 2010 Digital Terror & Hate Report ‘The Global Reach’

The following are Congresswomen Maloney’s remarks:

‘I want to congratulate the Simon Wiesenthal Tolerance Center for putting together an extraordinary report again this year.

For more than a decade, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has been tracking the growth of hate on the internet.

And while children are taught that sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you – it’s not always true. Terrorism and intolerance start with words, but they grow into actions.

An anti-semitic website spreads hatred and acts as a recruiting tool. Social networking is all about enabling like-minded people to find one another. As Simon Wiesenthal once said: The combination of hatred and technology is the greatest danger threatening mankind.

And Wiesenthal also recognize that Jews are not the only targets of hatred: Victims from more than 20 nations were killed by the Nazis.

Too many Americans are ignorant of the Holocaust and do not know that an enlightened society decided to eliminate Jews from the face of the world. They do not understand how easy it is to demonize a particular ethnic group, and persuade people to destroy them. And we have many lessons to learn from the Holocaust. I have introduced legislation in Congress, the Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Education Assistance Act, that will teach new generations about the devastation and death that stem from intolerance.

And that is why I admire what the Simon Wiesenthal Center does, and salute you for issuing this report.

The internet joins together billions of people. Ideas can spread like wildfire. And a call to action can be released on twitter or facebook, setting seemingly unrelated people in action. YouTube allows a terrorist’s lonely rant to be seen by thousands.

It can be used to enhance freedom in dictatorships – but it can also be used by advocates of hatred and intolerance.

The Simon Wiesenthal Tolerance Center’s report and educational workshops help law enforcement understand these tools, how they are being used by terrorists and extremists, and how we can beat them at that game.

Jihad Jane – accused of plotting to kill the Swedish cartoonist who caused riots by his depiction of Mohammed – was known for posting increasingly hate-filled screeds on YouTube or elsewhere on the internet – that’s how she came to the attention of law enforcement.

YouTube is this generation’s printing press. Hitler had Mein Kampf. Osama bin Laden has YouTube and the internet.

And these new ways of reaching potential followers have a worldwide reach.

I applaud the Simon Wiesenthal Center for all that it is doing to promote tolerance, and to help law enforcement identify those who are moving beyond speech and are planning attacks.

New tools require new techniques and new skills. The Simon Wiesenthal Center is dedicated to the idea that you can prevent attacks by teaching tolerance and training law enforcement to use the new techniques of tracking the bad guys.

Thank you for all you do.’