Denmark charges imam for hate speech

An imam could face two years in jail if convicted of breaking Danish defamation and hate speech laws for making anti-gay statements.

Danish authorities have charged an imam with breaking defamation and hate speech laws by making anti-gay statements, where he said homosexuality was "unnatural."

In his comments to the local Skive Folkeblad newspaper in June 2016, Mohammad Jammal said "homosexuality was unnatural. It's comparable to having sex with animals." Jammal made similar remarks to the national daily Jyllands-Posten.

The Danish prosecutor general and a state prosecutor in the city of Viborg said the remarks "mocked and degraded homosexuals," violating the criminal code's ban on defamation and hate speech.

"The remarks were so gross that we want the courts to rule whether Danish law has been violated," state prosecutor Jan Reckendorff said in a statement.

It was not known when the case would be tried. If proven, the offence can bring a fine or up to two years in prison.


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Source: AAP



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