Via the Gates of Vienna comes a story right from my own backyard. According to Baron Bodissey, a fellow Finnish blogger is Muzzled in Finland! There is little to go on other than that Mikko Ellilä’s weblog is under investigation by the Finnish police for supposed incitement against a national or religious group.
The Chapter 11, section 8 of the Finnish penal code was recently used for the first time –successfully– in an incitement case which found two newspapers guilty of publishing an anti-Semitic op-ed. Both newspapers and the individual who wrote the racist op-ed were fined accordingly, to the tune of about 1500 Euros.
It’s still unclear at this point just what the supposedly offending material might be, but as in all cases where an allegation is is made, the Finnish police are bound to see it through, regardless of how ridiculous the charges might be.
This is an interesting case since the Egyptian blogger, Sandmonkey, has recently terminated his own blog due to governmental interference, fear of jail time is a powerful inducement to cease whatever you’re doing, especially in a non-democratic state. What’s happening here in Finland is downright bizarre.
The Suomen Sisu website experienced a similar investigation when they published the dreaded twelve cartoons of Mohamed, the Muslim’s prophet, they were exonerated but faced nonetheless a ridiculous enquiry. The same group has mentioned the Ellilä case here, wondering if the story is true or pure BS being disseminated on a popular Finnish forum.
I’ll be posting more on it when the fulls details become known. *L* KGS
H/T Exile
Update: Mikko Ellilä just informed me that he still is unsure what awaits him. I still hold to the view that he will be investigated by the police in the very same way as the Suomen Sisu org. was for publishing the cartoons of Mohamed.
Update: The Baron adds: Contact the Finnish authorities. For our American readers, the Finnish embassy has a handy US map with state-by-state contact information here.
Here’s the main contact info for their embassy in Washington:
Embassy of Finland 3301
Massachusetts Avenue
N.W. Washington D.C. 20008
U.S.A
Tel. +1-202-298 5800
Fax: +1-202-298 6030
E-mail: sanomat.was@formin.fi
Homepage: http://www.finland.org/
Greetings from Melbourne, Australia.
This is PRODOS, the owner of the THINKER TO THINKER blog service which hosts Mikko’s blog, and which offers free blogs to anyone who supports freedom, creative thinking, and capitalist ideals.
Thank you for supporting Mikko Ellilä!
I stand with him all the way and I know that all THINKER TO THINKER blog owners will also.
There will be NO compromises on Liberty.
There will be NO concessions to Finland’s or Australia’s or anyone else’s Blasphemy Laws.
There will be NO apologies nor any joining of ranks with European Dhimmitude.
WE WILL NOT SUBMIT!
PRODOS
It’s all nice to say that “There will be NO compromises on Liberty,” but we need to engage our brain before getting involved in ANY of these cases. We compromise liberty every day. For example, I’m sure that Prodos regularly infringes on the liberty of those who use their servers to distribute spam.
On the surface (and bearing in mind that I’ve only seen the English statements), this case does not appear to warrant police activity, but that doesn’t mean that EVERY “freedom of speech” case should receive automatic praise from the blogosphere.
I understand your position but fail to understand your point. Why shouldn’t anyone being either investigated or even prosecuted for expressing their opinions on the facist attributes of Islam be supported.
I cannot vouch for everything Ellilä has written, but what I have looked at in both Finnish and English does not IMHO violate any law. That people are willing to level baseless allegations in order to stifle criticsm of (an unreformed) Islam should give cause for grave concern by all who value liberal democracy.