Latest news with #CommunicationsAct2003
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Professor prosecuted over tweets calling for Jews to be ‘de-Zionised'
An academic is facing a private prosecution over social media posts calling for Jews to be 'de-Zionised'. The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has brought three charges against Prof David Miller over posts on X. They allege that he used a public communications network to send messages of a menacing character, contrary to the Communications Act 2003. Prof Miller was previously found to have been unfairly and wrongfully dismissed by the University of Bristol in October 2021 after making comments criticising Israel. The CAA said the first message was posted on Nov 8 last year in relation to a discussion on violence in Amsterdam after a football match involving an Israeli team. It said: 'Last night's response by the brave Muslim communities of Amsterdam was necessary, but extremely measured and not at all proportional to the genocidal violence unleashed by Zionist terrorists on the Levant, on Muslims worldwide, or indeed in the provocations that preceded the measured response. Future incidents will likely involve a more proportional response. 'As well as being unwelcoming to Zionist colonists coming from Occupied Palestine, Europe must be unviable as a base for Zionist terror by Jewish supremacists who have infiltrated and are camouflaged among us. 'Zionist terrorist entryists must be expunged from European institutions, whether political parties, media, think tanks or elsewhere. Again, either institutions take the lead and conduct this work in orderly fashion with advice from experts on Zionist subversion, or the people will take care of it for them.' The first hearing is set to take place at Westminster magistrates' court on July 2, HM Courts & Tribunals Service confirmed. Prof Miller is alleged to have sent another message on March 20, saying: 'Every genuinely anti-Zionist Jew can count on being kept safe by the movement, when the time comes. Every Zionist Jew must be held accountable and de-Zionised. #DismantleZionism.' On March 24, he is said to have made another post saying: 'Protests are not enough. Listen to our brothers and sisters in Gaza. 'Those who are interested in ending this genocide must begin by targeting those responsible near them: the entire Zionist movement globally must live in fear of accountability until it is dismantled and its ideology eradicated. And let's be clear, there are Zionists everywhere. In every town and city. Find out where they are. #DismantleZionism.' He successfully claimed at an employment tribunal last year that he experienced discrimination based on his anti-Zionist belief. The CAA describes itself as an organisation of volunteers that works to 'expose and counter antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law'. Prof Miller has been approached for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Academic faces private prosecution over posts on X
An academic is facing a private prosecution by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) charity over posts on social media. Three charges have been brought by the CAA alleging that Professor David Miller used a public communications network to send messages of a menacing character, contrary to section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. The first hearing is set to take place at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 2, HM Courts & Tribunals Service confirmed. The case relates to posts on X, which Mr Miller is alleged to have published in recent months. The CAA said the first message was posted on November 8 last year in relation to a discussion on violence in Amsterdam after a football match involving an Israeli team. He is alleged to have sent another message on March 20, saying: 'Every genuinely anti-Zionist Jew can count on being kept safe by the movement, when the time comes. Every Zionist Jew must be held accountable and de-Zionised. #DismantleZionism.' On March 24, he is said to have posted another tweet saying: 'Protests are not enough. Listen to our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Those who are interested in ending this genocide must begin by targeting those responsible near them: the entire Zionist movement globally must live in fear of accountability until it is dismantled and its ideology eradicated. And let's be clear, there are Zionists everywhere. In every town and city. Find out where they are. #DismantleZionism.' Mr Miller was previously found to have been unfairly and wrongfully dismissed by the University of Bristol in October 2021 after making comments criticising Israel. He successfully claimed at an employment tribunal last year that he experienced discrimination based on his anti-Zionist belief. The CAA describes itself as an organisation of volunteers which works to 'expose and counter antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law'. Mr Miller has been approached for comment.
Belfast Telegraph
6 days ago
- General
- Belfast Telegraph
Academic faces private prosecution over posts on X
Three charges have been brought by the CAA alleging that Professor David Miller used a public communications network to send messages of a menacing character, contrary to section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. The first hearing is set to take place at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 2, HM Courts & Tribunals Service confirmed. The case relates to posts on X, which Mr Miller is alleged to have published in recent months. The CAA said the first message was posted on November 8 last year in relation to a discussion on violence in Amsterdam after a football match involving an Israeli team. He is alleged to have sent another message on March 20, saying: 'Every genuinely anti-Zionist Jew can count on being kept safe by the movement, when the time comes. Every Zionist Jew must be held accountable and de-Zionised. #DismantleZionism.' On March 24, he is said to have posted another tweet saying: 'Protests are not enough. Listen to our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Those who are interested in ending this genocide must begin by targeting those responsible near them: the entire Zionist movement globally must live in fear of accountability until it is dismantled and its ideology eradicated. And let's be clear, there are Zionists everywhere. In every town and city. Find out where they are. #DismantleZionism.' Mr Miller was previously found to have been unfairly and wrongfully dismissed by the University of Bristol in October 2021 after making comments criticising Israel. He successfully claimed at an employment tribunal last year that he experienced discrimination based on his anti-Zionist belief. The CAA describes itself as an organisation of volunteers which works to 'expose and counter antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law'.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
Brickbat: What'd I Say?
Police in the United Kingdom are arresting about 33 people per day for posting offensive messages online under laws like the Communications Act 2003 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988, which target messages causing distress or deemed "grossly offensive." In 2023, the latest year for which data are available, police arrested 12,183 people for posting offensive messages—up 58 percent from 2019. Despite the high arrest numbers, convictions have dropped by nearly half since 2015, with only 1,119 sentenced in 2023, often due to lack of cooperation from the victim or issues with evidence. Critics, including the Free Speech Union, highlight cases like a couple detained for school-related emails and a man convicted for an offensive Halloween costume, warning that such arrests waste resources and could harm free expression. Police defend their actions as lawful but sometimes admit to heavy-handed approaches. The post Brickbat: What'd I Say? appeared first on
The Guardian
24-03-2025
- The Guardian
A racist screaming the N-word and a Black person using it in conversation are poles apart. Why can't the CPS see it?
It was summer 2014. Driving back to London with my baby daughter after a day out in Waltham Abbey, I was waiting for a traffic light to turn green. Pulled up beside me on my right-hand side was a long-haired, long-bearded man on a classic motorcycle. He looked around my car, and shook his head in seeming disapproval. Suddenly – with absolutely no provocation – he roared out 'FUCKING NIGGERS'. Then he jumped the red light and sped off. Every decent person could see that as a credible hate crime. But there are exchanges less clear cut, with motivations more arguable. How should society – and the law – deal with those? Earlier this month, without scrutiny or fanfare, the Crown Prosecution Service abandoned a lengthy attempt to prosecute a recent university graduate for her use, in a jovial conversation on social media, of the word 'nigga'. The case turned on an exchange on X (formerly Twitter) on 27 August 2023, after Newcastle United had been beaten 2-1 by Liverpool. Jamila A, a 21-year-old Black British woman, in conversation on X with an African American friend and referring to the Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, quipped: '@******** i'm so pissed off let me get my hands on that fuckin isak nigga.' The tweet was picked up by a data monitoring organisation hired by the Football Association, and months after the tweet was posted, the police were at her door. She was taken into custody for questioning, subsequently arrested and charged with being in violation of the Malicious Communications Act 1988. After media interest, the CPS 'downgraded' the charge to a violation of the Communications Act 2003: to be heard in a magistrates' trial, where a conviction was more likely. When contacted about the case by the Independent newspaper July of last year, the CPS responded: 'Hate crime has a profound impact on victims and communities. Being from an ethnic minority background does not provide a defence to racially abusing someone. Our commitment to tackling these abhorrent crimes through fair and impartial prosecution is unwavering.' But on 5 March, after a year of causing Jamila A needless anxiety, the charges were dropped. There was brief mention of the outcome on social media and among interested journalists. The world moved on. Still, there is an issue here, for Jamila was just the latest in an ever-growing line of Black and brown people to be targeted by a state that absurdly fails or refuses to understand the difference between stark and hurtful racism and the use of terms that have become common intra-communal parlance. Racism is a terrible blight. All robust effort should be made by citizens to protect their fellow humans from it. But context is important. As I see it, the authorities made the conscious decision to ignore the glaringly crucial context that these were just two young Black people conversing like two young Black people about another young Black person. They were not hosting a Klan rally, and there was nothing obscene or out of the ordinary in their conversation. It's clear to me that the player was not subject to any incitement to hate at the hands of Jamila A. As her lawyers said in a statement, 'No evidence of any party finding the tweet offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing had been provided'. For the benefit of the police and the CPS: the substantial difference between the biker screaming racism at my daughter and me, and Jamila referring to Isak as she did is not a matter of spelling or semantics but intent, history, culture and community. The biker subjected us to the words – and mannerisms – of white supremacy and dehumanisation. But that experience and the experience of a Black friend or even a Black stranger referring to me as or calling me the N-word are galaxies apart. There have been other misapplications of outrage and concern. Last year's so-called emoji trial ended in the crown court acquittal of a Black man charged after sending a raccoon emoji to a Black Conservative politician on social media. The word 'coon' has long been a viciously racist slur directed by white racists towards Black people. But there is also, among Black Britons and African Americans, the term 'cooning' – a form of critique directed at Black people alleged to be collaborating with or pandering to racism in order to curry favour. Last September, Marieha Hussain, a teacher of south Asian origin, was acquitted of a racially aggravated public order offence after she carried a placard depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as 'coconuts': one of many forms of satirical critique used about visible minorities (and formerly colonised people) alleged to over-identify with the tastes, cultural practices and behaviours of their historical colonial overloards. District Judge Vanessa Lloyd ruled that the placard carried by Hussain was 'part of the genre of political satire'. So, a heavily pregnant woman faced trial for obvious satire. All the instances involved the weaponisation of terms that are sometimes controversial, sometimes satirical, sometimes unpleasant and sometimes loving, but widely recognised and accepted as intra-communal language – and, therefore, have an entirely different communal resonance. They show the very hate crime laws that were designed to protect minorities are now being used to persecute them. For some, that may be the intention. But it erodes the credibility of the state to protect and police a multicultural society such as our own. The words and images in question may not have been kind, but neither were they reason for intervention by police officers and courts. Just as the word 'queer' has been reclaimed by the LGBTQ+ community from the speech of homophobes, there has been a wider reclamation of oppressive, denigrative and dehumanising language. It comes from a place of community, kinship, shared characteristics and a history of oppression. And it is interesting, is it not, that there is no sign of such intrusive policing when the N-word as deployed by rappers is being used to generate billions in profits for large, predominately white-owned companies? There should be a conversation about this. Certainly, there should be a prosecutorial rethink. The law is based on statutes and interpretation, but surely its root is in common sense. There is enough real hate crime around. Why conjure it up where it doesn't exist? Nels Abbey is an author, broadcaster and the founder of Uppity: the Intellectual Playground
