The Arizona state Supreme Court ruled on Friday a Tucson newspaper could not be held liable for publishing a letter that urged people to kill Muslims to retaliate for the death of American soldiers in Iraq. Arizona’s highest court found unanimously the Tucson Citizen was protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and could not be sued for printing the letter in December 2003.
The lawsuit, filed by Aly W. Elleithee and Wali Yudeen S. Abdul Rahim, stemmed from a three-paragraph letter in the Citizen that called for quick retaliation for soldiers’ deaths. “Whenever there is an assassination or another atrocity, we should proceed to the closest mosque and execute five of the first Muslims we encounter,” the letter said. “After all, this is a ‘Holy War’ and although such a procedure is not fair or just, it might end the horror.”
We look forward to articles by Nick Cohen and Melanie Phillips applauding the Arizona Supreme Court for its principled defence of the right to free speech.
Postscript: Over at Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer’s admirers are already rallying to the defence of democratic values. One comment reads:
“If one has been following the sad situation of the repression of free speech in European countries, the UK, parts of Australia, and even Canada, in which authors of books, pastors, politicians, and citizens are being prosecuted as vilipends for ‘insulting or defaming Islam’, one would note that the loss of ancient rights, such as free speech, began with actions such as the one attempted by Aly W. Elleithee and Wali Yudeen S. Abdul Rahim.”