The Supreme Court of Finland held that Päivi Räsänen, a longtime member of the Finnish Parliament, was guilty of the “hate crime” of “insulting” a group based on sexual orientation for publishing a church pamphlet over twenty years ago. A Lutheran bishop, Juhana Pohjola, was similarly convicted for publishing the pamphlet for the church.
Chillingly, Räsänen and Pohjola are now criminals for peacefully expressing their views in the public square.
The details that led up to this outrageous conviction are truly Orwellian.
Räsänen published her pamphlet, “Male and Female He Created Them,” in 2004, when Finland, like much of the world, was debating same-sex marriage. The pamphlet was meant to help others navigate those debates.
Years later, Finland amended its “War Crimes” statute, expanding the scope of criminal “hate speech” laws to include many new protected categories, resulting in this verdict where the court ruled it is illegal to publish “insulting” content.
Räsänen is a member of the Finnish Lutheran Church. In 2019, her church announced it would join the Helsinki Pride Parade. Räsänen gained international attention with a now-famous X post in which she criticized her church’s involvement in the pride parade and shared an image of a Bible verse.
<div id="attachment_652929" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-652929" class="size-large wp-image-652929" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1024x573.png" alt="Päivi Räsänen" width="1024" height="573" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1024x573.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-300x168.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-768x430.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1536x859.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM.png 1573w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom International</div>
A progressive prosecutor in Helsinki could not stand such an “affront” and commenced what would become an almost seven-year legal battle. She immediately launched and announced an investigation into Räsänen for criminal “hate speech.” During that investigation, she seemingly reviewed every statement that Räsänen had made on the subject of sexuality and dredged up the 15-year-old 20-page pamphlet, along with a single radio interview. She later charged Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola with hate crimes based on the Bible tweet, the pamphlet, and the interview.
Räsänen defended herself publicly by sharing links to the allegedly “offensive” material so people could see for themselves what, exactly, she was on trial for.
A Finnish lower court unanimously acquitted Räsänen and Pohjola on all counts, finding that posting Bible verses was not a crime. The case should have ended there. In the United States, if the prosecution loses, the case is closed. But in Finland, the prosecutors can keep appealing even a clear loss, which they did. The Court of Appeals again fully and unanimously acquitted Räsänen and Pohjola.
The prosecutors took one more shot, appealing to the Supreme Court. And now, in a split 3-2 decision, the Supreme Court has found Räsänen and Pohjola guilty of “insult” under the “War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity” section of Finland’s criminal code.
The logic of the decision is mind-bending. The Court, thankfully, upheld the acquittal for the Bible tweet, finding it did not meet the threshold for incitement. That’s good. But how the Court found Räsänen guilty for publishing the pamphlet is straight out of George Orwell&#8217;s 1984.
The Court argued that simply because the prosecution started an investigation in 2019 — about a tweet that the Court itself says is allowed — Räsänen should have known that her early-2000s pamphlet might now be seen as “insulting&#8221; under a law enacted years later. The Court concluded that Räsänen should have removed the allegedly insulting statements before reposting a link to them — even before any charges were filed.
So it was the very fact that she was being publicly investigated and sought to defend herself that made her a criminal and her statements ipso facto illegal.
This is not justice. This is Year Zero thinking, where an official accusation can turn someone into a thought-criminal, and any defense is used against them. It is the upside-down world.
The Court, doubling down on Orwellian reasoning, has demanded that Räsänen and Pohjola remove and “destroy” the “offending” statements from the pamphlet. This is simply the mandatory erasure of history and thought.
How many books, articles, and posts available online “might be” considered “insulting” to a group? Must publishers and authors scour their online libraries and remove anything others might find offensive? Does a mere accusation of offense now mandate people pull their beliefs and statements offline? The Court’s twisted logic points toward all these dystopian outcomes.
Päivi Räsänen has shown immense Christlike grace throughout this whole ordeal, and I pray that she receives justice soon, through an appeal or otherwise.
But the decision in her case goes far beyond just one individual. How many people will refuse to speak up if there is even the hint of controversy in their views, religious or otherwise, especially if the powers-that-be clearly disfavor those views?
Is this how Europe will use mechanisms like the Digital Services Act to silence alleged “hate speech” and export censorship online and globally?
The Finnish Supreme Court’s decision against Räsänen is an outrage against her and against the most fundamental principles of free speech. It is more obvious than ever that &#8220;hate speech&#8221; laws are inherently abusive and must be repealed. This decision should be widely condemned by people worldwide who value freedom.
***
Sean Nelson is an international human rights lawyer serving as Senior Counsel for Global Religious Freedom with ADF International.

Germany: nationwide demonstrations against NSA spying and in solidarity with Edward Snowden

The Finnish Supreme Court’s ‘1984’ Playbook

The Finnish Supreme Court's '1984' Playbook

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Bible

Finland

Free Speech

Religious Freedom

Social Media Censorship

Western Civilization

A European politician has been found guilty by Finland’s top court of “hate speech” for sharing her Christian views on marriage in a 2004 church pamphlet. 
The Supreme Court of Finland voted 3-2 on Thursday to find Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen guilty of “making and keeping available to the public a text that insults a group.” The “text” she was charged over was a pamphlet explaining the Bible’s position on marriage and sexual ethics, written with Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola. 
“I am shocked and profoundly disappointed that the court has failed to recognize my basic human right to freedom of expression,” Räsänen said Thursday. “I stand by the teachings of my Christian faith, and will continue to defend my and every person’s right to share their convictions in the public square.”
Räsänen’s case has drawn the attention of United States lawmakers, who have said it demonstrates the perilous status of free speech in Europe. Lower courts previously unanimously acquitted her in 2022 and 2023, before prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court. 
The court said that the pair “made available to the public and kept available to the public opinions that insult homosexuals as a group on the basis of their sexual orientation.” 
The court ordered Räsänen to remove 11 statements from the 25-page pamphlet, saying they should be removed from “public access” and “destroyed.” Pohjola was also convicted alongside Räsänen for his role in distributing the pamphlet. Räsänen will be fined around $2079, and Pohjola will be fined $1270. The foundation that published the marriage pamphlet will be fined $5775. 
The high court did acquit her of sharing a Bible verse from the book of Romans detailing the Christian understanding of sexuality. 
Räsänen was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom International and criminal defense lawyer Matti Sankamo. 
“By convicting me for expressing beliefs in a different context, the court has drawn an unclear, and I believe, dangerous line. This creates uncertainty, not only for me, but for every citizen who wishes to express their beliefs, or even more concerning for anyone who has expressed their opinions in the past,” Räsänen said during a press conference after the verdict attended by The Daily Wire. 
Räsänen, a member of the Lutheran church and Finland’s former Ministry of the Interior, said she was considering an appeal to the European Union. 
“I am taking legal advice on a possible appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. This is not about my free speech alone, but that of every person in Finland,” she said. “A positive ruling would help to prevent other innocent people from experiencing the same ordeal for simply sharing their beliefs.”
Paul Coleman, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom International, said the case showed the danger of how “vaguely worded and highly subjective hate speech laws can be interpreted and misinterpreted by anyone who looks at them.”
Räsänen said Thursday she has received thousands of messages from people around the world through the ordeal, which began over seven years ago, and said that “the process has not been in vain” and has given her an opportunity to share her faith with others. 
“I believe that this process has been in God&#8217;s hands, and even though I&#8217;m disappointed and even shocked about this conviction that I got today,” she said. “I believe that this is also in God&#8217;s hands, what happened. There is some purpose also for this situation where we are now. I trust in God.”

MixCollage-26-Mar-2026-09-50-AM-3986

A Politician Shared Traditional Christian Values. Now She Stands Convicted Of ‘Hate Speech.’

Politician Convicted Of 'Hate Speech' In Shocking Case Over Basic Christian Beliefs

Christianity

European Union

Do you agree with the Apostle Paul?
That was the question police asked Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen repeatedly over the course of 13 hours of interrogation over a social media post she made featuring a Bible verse. 
Six years ago, Räsänen found herself in a small room being questioned after she <a href="https://x.com/PaiviRasanen/status/1140693636176384011">shared</a> a Bible verse from the book of Romans detailing the Christian understanding of sexuality. After she shared the verse, she was charged with hate speech and dragged to the police station for numerous rounds of questions about her beliefs. 
“It was a very, very absurd and surreal experience,” Räsänen said on Thursday when asked by The Daily Wire to describe her experience. “I was sitting in a small room in a police station. I had the Bible on the table and the police were asking me very theological questions.”
She said that she was asked about the meaning of Romans and about the concepts of sin and shame in the Bible. Räsänen said she was brought in for questioning three times for a total of 13 hours, leading to a joke that she was “going to have a Bible study” at the police station, she said. 
Räsänen said her experience reminded her of stories she heard about Christians being persecuted by the Soviet Union. 
“Those stories that I had heard from these communist countries,” she said. “So I was so shocked that something like that could happen in Finland, in a country that has long roots in Christianity and rule of law and freedom of speech and faith.”
After each interrogation, she was given two weeks to delete her social media post and apologize. She refused each time. 
“I said that I do not apologize… because it&#8217;s not my opinion, it is what the Word of God says,” Räsänen said. 
She is a member of the Lutheran Church and was previously Finland’s Ministry of the Interior, meaning she once oversaw the police who interrogated her. Her case is now before Finland’s top court and comes after she was unanimously acquitted in 2022 and 2023 by lower courts. She faces two criminal charges for “agitation against a minority group.”
Räsänen’s case was heard on Thursday by the Finnish Supreme Court. She was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom International and criminal defense lawyer Matti Sankamo. 
<div id="attachment_993749" style="width: 1674px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-993749" class="size-full wp-image-993749" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM.png" alt="" width="1664" height="1106" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM.png 1664w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM-300x199.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM-867x576.png 867w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM-768x510.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM-1536x1021.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1664px) 100vw, 1664px" />Räsänen outside the Supreme Court/ Alliance Defending Freedom International.</div>
In a press call after Thursday’s hearing, Sankamo said that it appeared that prosecutors had changed the primary focus of their case against Räsänen.
Also on trial is Bishop Juhana Pohjola, a Lutheran church leader who published a pamphlet in 2004 written by Räsänen defending the Christian view of marriage as between one man and one woman. Prosecutors have called for Pohjola to pull the pamphlet from circulation. 
“The Christian message of marriage and sexuality has been taught for two millennia, and it should never be considered a crime to speak what Christians have always believed,” he said ahead of the hearing. 
Both Pohjola and Räsänen face a hefty fine if they lose their case. The charges they face could come with prison time, though prosecutors have not requested that punishment. 
Paul Coleman, the executive director of Alliance Defending Freedom International, said that losing the case could make countless other Christian materials considered criminal. 
“We&#8217;ve not yet seen a case reach the highest court of a land where actual theological concepts like sin are considered hate speech, or where the words of the Bible are being put on trial,” he said Thursday. “And so again, if the prosecutor is successful, then that will set a new low, really, for freedom of expression in Europe and specifically for Christians.”
A verdict in the case is not expected until spring 2026, but Räsänen is hopeful that the result will be a resounding win for freedom of religion and speech. 
“The main question in this whole process is, the heart of this trial, is the question of whether teachings related to the Bible can be presented and whether it is still permissible to agree with the Bible, even when they contradict the main ideology of the society,” she said.

MixCollage-30-Oct-2025-01-20-PM-5744

The Bible On Trial: Christian Politician Goes Back To Court Over Religious Beliefs

Europe

Marriage

Imagine facing your nation’s Supreme Court for the “crime” of sharing a Bible verse. On October 30, that’s the reality for Päivi Räsänen, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-finnish-court-to-hear-case-on-politician-charged-over-sharing-bible-verse?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Top+Finnish+Court+To+Hear+Case+On+Politician+Charged+Over+Sharing+Bible+Verse">Finnish grandmother</a>, medical doctor, and parliamentarian. Her soon-to-be seven-year ordeal began in 2019, when she questioned her church’s support for Helsinki Pride and posted a Bible verse on X. That single tweet triggered 13 hours of police interrogation, two full trials, and now a third prosecution under Finland’s “hate speech” law.
Räsänen’s case might sound like an exclusively European story — but it also serves as a warning about the growing threat of censorship coming from the EU. While someone living outside of Europe might assume they are exempt from the troubling wave of censorship spreading across the continent, that assumption is dangerously mistaken.
The EU has implemented an online censorship law that could turn stories like Päivi’s into a legalized norm. The law, known as <a href="https://adfinternational.org/es/article/digital-services-act-unpacked">The Digital Services Act</a> (DSA), poses one of the greatest threats to free speech online, not just in Europe, but worldwide.
Presented as a way to create a “safe online environment,” the DSA is in fact a sweeping censorship regime. It compels major online platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, X, and Google to take down “illegal content” or face crippling fines of up to 6% of their global revenue. For companies like Apple or Meta, that could mean billions. With penalties this steep, platforms have every incentive to preemptively over-censor content, not just in Europe, but everywhere.
And what counts as “illegal” content? That depends on the varying laws of 27 EU member states. One country’s vague definition of “hate speech” or “misinformation” can ripple outward, forcing platforms to delete content across the entire internet. What Brussels bureaucrats decide could silence speech in Boston or Boise — posts fully protected by the First Amendment, gone in an instant.
The enforcement system makes this worse. The DSA empowers “trusted flaggers,” which can include activist groups, regulators, or even private entities, to demand removals. The European Commission itself sits at the top, monitoring and punishing companies that don’t comply. In practice, this means platforms will act first and ask questions later, scrubbing lawful speech before it can cause “problems” in Europe.
<div id="attachment_652929" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-652929" class="size-large wp-image-652929" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1024x573.png" alt="Päivi Räsänen" width="1024" height="573" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1024x573.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-300x168.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-768x430.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1536x859.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM.png 1573w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom International</div>
Päivi Räsänen’s case shows what happens when governments weaponize vague speech laws: peaceful expression treated as criminal conduct. The DSA threatens to make this dynamic global. By institutionalizing vague categories like “hate speech” and “disinformation,” it builds the <a href="https://constitutionaldiscourse.com/the-eu-digital-services-act-and-freedom-of-expression-friends-or-foes/">architecture for censorship</a> that knows no borders.
Americans should not be lulled into thinking this is someone else’s problem. The internet is global, and so are the platforms that host our speech. Already, U.S. lawmakers — from the House Judiciary Committee to Vice President JD Vance — have warned that the DSA could chill <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/jim-jordan-presses-european-commission-for-answers-over-eu-social-media-law-henna-virkkunen-digital-services-act/">constitutionally protected expression</a> here at home. The danger isn’t hypothetical: EU officials have already floated the possibility of censoring American <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4824438-eu-sends-warning-letter-to-musk-ahead-of-trump-interview/">political figures under the law.</a>
The stakes are enormous. If the EU succeeds in exporting its censorship regime, authoritarian governments worldwide are likely to use it as a blueprint. They will point to Brussels as justification for their own crackdowns. Already, we’ve seen Europe attempt to export the DSA model abroad. For example, at the EU-Canada Summit, Canada and the EU agreed to advance a Digital Trade Agreement that <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/price-testimony.pdf">expands the reach of DSA principles.</a>
Free speech does not stop at national borders. If America cares about freedom of expression, it must push back against the DSA and its creeping global reach. Päivi Räsänen’s trial is a human face on what’s at stake. Her courage reminds us that when governments claim the power to police speech, no voice is safe.
* * *
Lorcan Price is an Irish barrister and legal counsel for ADF International.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-BELGIUM-TECHNOLOGY-MEDIA-EU

Europe’s Digital Speech Police Won’t Stop At The Border

Brussels

Censorship

Freedom of Speech

Opinion

“Think before you post!”
So reads the <a href="https://x.com/GOVUK/status/1821502879590494358" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warning</a> issued by the UK government, advertising a far-reaching crackdown on expression on Twitter amidst volatile unrest breaking out across England.
The Director of Public Prosecutions took to Sky News to caution the nation that he had police officers dedicated to “scouring social media” to “look for this material [incitement to racial hatred], and then follow up with identification, arrests, and so on and so forth.” Already, two perpetrators have been <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/jordan-parlour-facebook-user-jailed-for-riot-related-social-media-posts-13193894" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged and sentenced</a> for their tweets – both guilty of blatantly inciting violence, calling on rioters to burn down a hotel housing migrants.
Incitement to violence has long been illegal, and should be wholly rejected even by ardent free speech absolutists.
But the newfound zeal of the government for <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/met-police-chief-sir-mark-rowley-says-two-tier-policing-claims-complete-nonsense-and-putting-officers-at-risk-13192393" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prosecuting</a> online expression could soon slide into the restriction, or even criminalization, of peaceful speech.
Keir Starmer has indicated an intention to beef up the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/14/uk-considers-tougher-online-safety-act-after-uk-riots-musk-comments.html#:~:text=The%20Online%20Safety%20Act%20is,their%20platforms%20of%20illegal%20content." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Online Safety Act</a>, set to go into force in early 2025. The Act, introduced last year under a Conservative government, sets a new and unprecedentedly low standard for prosecuting speech, making it a crime to share information known to be false, with the perceived intent to cause “harm.” The original text of the bill was stripped back after public outcry that the law would require social media companies to remove “legal but harmful” speech from their platforms, in a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression. But Starmer is reportedly considering re-introducing the same requirement, setting the threshold for criminality based on words alone to the lowest in modern history.
Harm is in the eye of the beholder, and one can only imagine the manipulative misuse of the term to target and silence those with minority beliefs. Without clear parameters as to which speech falls within the bounds of the government’s definition of “harmful,” and a punishment awaiting companies who fail to comply, social media empires are likely to bend towards a cautious approach: deleting expressions which might, possibly, be offensive to somebody somewhere.
The cautious cull has already begun. Richard Dawkins said his Facebook account <a href="https://x.com/RichardDawkins/status/1819389197222138210" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was deleted</a> this week after he made an argument that males should not compete in women’s sports. Legal? Certainly. True? Absolutely. Harmful? Only according to the shrouded perceptions of an ideologically-biased Meta, who have obviously turned a blind eye to the actual physical and psychological harms inflicted upon women who are made to take punches from competitors with XX chromosomes in a boxing ring, and concede their medals in biologically-rigged races.
Of course, social media content can be horrid. Nobody likes mean tweets. But one need only look across the world to see the authoritarian horrors visited upon citizens when these vague, far-reaching bans on free speech are implemented.
<div id="attachment_652929" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-652929" class="wp-image-652929 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1024x573.png" alt="Päivi Räsänen" width="1024" height="573" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1024x573.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-300x168.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-768x430.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1536x859.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM.png 1573w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom International</div>
Take Finland. Parliamentarian <a href="https://adfinternational.org/campaign/free-speech-on-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Päivi Räsänen</a>, a former government minister and grandmother, has been on trial for “hate speech” for a 2019 Bible-verse tweet which simply questioned her Church’s involvement with a Pride event. She was charged under the Finnish criminal code’s section on “War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity,” carrying a maximum sentence of 2 years imprisonment. With support from ADF International, she is awaiting the Finnish state’s appeal of her prior acquittal at the Supreme Court in Helsinki.
<div id="attachment_780679" style="width: 624px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-780679" class="wp-image-780679 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/Not-2-Rodrigo-Ivan-Cortes.png" alt="Rodrigo Iván Cortés. Courtesy; ADF." width="614" height="346" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/Not-2-Rodrigo-Ivan-Cortes.png 614w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/Not-2-Rodrigo-Ivan-Cortes-300x169.png 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px" />Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom International</div>
Or look at Mexico. Former congressman Rodrigo Iván Cortés and sitting congressman Gabriel Quadri have been <a href="https://adfinternational.org/es/casos/rodrigo-ivan-cortes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> of “gender-based political violence,” and placed on an offenders’ register, for Twitter posts. For expressing their views on biological sex, both have been ordered to publish a court-written apology on X every day for 30 days, 3 times a day, as a form of public humiliation. ADF International are supporting their appeal at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Meanwhile in Australia, Canadian activist “<a href="https://adfinternational.org/news/billboard-chris-in-legal-battle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Billboard Chris</a>” is soon to face trial for an “X” post he wrote, criticizing the appointment of a radical transgender activist to the WHO’s “panel of experts” set to advise on global transgender policy. Chris, a Canadian, wrote the tweet on the American-based platform, with no reference at all to Australia – yet unelected e-Safety bureaucrats in Canberra have taken it upon themselves to censor the tweet across their country. Both Chris (with ADF International’s backing), and “X”, are involved in a legal battle to restore free speech and unblock the post. Policy-makers who impact the treatment of vulnerable and confused children must surely be open to public critique.
<div id="attachment_780673" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-780673" class="size-large wp-image-780673" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-1243338612-864x576.jpg" alt="Anti-trans activist Chris Elston, joined by his supporters, demonstrates against gender affirmation treatments and surgeries on minors, outside of Boston Childrens Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 18, 2022. - Protestors for and against the hospital's programs that deal with gender affirmation surgeries and hormonal treatments were gathered outside the hospital. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-1243338612-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-1243338612-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-1243338612-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-1243338612.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images</div>
The cases are mounting. Freedom of Tweet has already been squeezed across the world, yet governments are increasingly drawn to passing these authoritarian laws. In Scotland, police were overwhelmed with reports about JK Rowling’s tweeted beliefs when the hate speech law came into effect on 1st April, despite resources already having had to be cut away from dealing with theft and other petty crimes. In Ireland, the government are considering passing a “hate speech” law which could place people in prison for up to five years even for the memes they have on their phone. If implemented in England &amp; Wales, a ban on “legal but harmful” posts on “X” or Facebook will inevitably slide into censorship of unapproved views, giving the state unlimited reach into controlling conversations amongst the public. “Blasphemy laws” in Middle Eastern nations are righteously condemned by European states. We must set a better example – not implement laws to punish heresy against our own dominant societal beliefs of today.
* * *
Lois McLatchie Miller (@LoisMcLatch) is a Scottish commentator and Senior Legal Communications Officer for Alliance Defending Freedom UK.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-14-Aug-2024

Meet The People Around The World On Trial For A Tweet 

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Finland’s Supreme Court will hear the case of a politician facing “hate crime” charges over her Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality. 
On Friday, the Supreme Court of Finland <a href="https://adfinternational.org/news/bible-tweet-case-to-be-heard-at-finnish-supreme-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that it would hear the case of Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen, who is facing state charges related to her sharing a 2019 tweet that included pictures of Bible verses and a pamphlet on marriage she wrote back in 2004. The charges were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/finnish-court-dismisses-hate-crime-charges-against-politician-on-trial-over-christian-beliefs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously dismissed</a> by the district court and the Helsinki Court of Appeal.
The case will now be heard by the Supreme Court, Finland&#8217;s top court for private law cases. The state prosecutors want the court to fine Räsänen tens of thousands of Euros and want her to be censored. Bishop Juhana Pohjola will be tried at the same time on similar charges for publishing Räsänen&#8217;s writings on marriage.
Charges <a href="https://adfinternational.org/campaign/free-speech-on-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were brought</a> against them after Räsänen publicly questioned why the church denomination she was part of was sponsoring an LGBT &#8220;Pride&#8221; celebration. She was accused of “agitation against a minority group,” under the section of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Finnish law. 
Räsänen said Friday that she has a “peaceful mind” and is “ready to continue to defend free speech and freedom of religion before the Supreme Court, and if need be, also before the European Court of Human Rights.” 
The member of parliament, who is being backed by the Alliance Defending Freedom International, added that the investigation into her had been going on for nearly five and that the outcome would have major implications for free expression. 
“This was not just about my opinions, but about everyone’s freedom of expression,” she said. “I hope that with the ruling of the Supreme Court, others would not have to undergo the same ordeal. I have considered it a privilege and an honor to defend freedom of expression, which is a fundamental right in a democratic state.” 
The case has garnered international attention, with Republican lawmakers in the United States urging the State Department Officials to step in and support Räsänen.
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“This is a watershed case in the story of Europe’s creeping censorship,” said Paul Coleman of the Alliance Defending Freedom International. “In a democratic Western nation in 2024, nobody should be on trial for their faith – yet throughout the prosecution of  Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola, we have seen something akin to a ‘heresy’ trial, where Christians are dragged through court for holding beliefs that differ from the approved orthodoxy of the day.”

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Top Finnish Court To Hear Case On Politician Charged Over Sharing Bible Verse

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Trans-identifying people continue to have mental health issues even after transgender medical treatment, a new study out of Finland shows.
Despite what advocates <a href="https://www.komu.com/news/midmissourinews/theyre-not-really-interested-in-health-care-mental-health-expert-weighs-in-on-gender-affirming/article_4c0f02ae-48ed-11ee-89fc-83442f979c89.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claim</a>, many people who undergo transgender medical treatment continue to need significant psychiatric treatment afterwards, according to the peer-reviewed <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-psychiatry/article/have-the-psychiatric-needs-of-people-seeking-gender-reassignment-changed-as-their-numbers-increase-a-register-study-in-finland/D09F9414F798E0462AF911152E7BF576" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> conducted by three Finnish researchers.
The study appeared last month in the journal European Psychiatry, which is published by Cambridge University Press.
The researchers looked at 3,665 people who contacted Finland&#8217;s gender identity services between 1996 to 2019.
&#8220;Both before and after contacting [gender identity services], they present with many more common psychiatric needs than do their matched population controls, even when medical [gender reassignment] interventions are carried out,&#8221; the study said.
Patients are coming in for transgender medical treatment at &#8220;ever younger ages and with more psychiatric needs,&#8221; the study said, and their psychiatric needs persist regardless of treatment. Adolescents and girls in particular are seeking out the treatments more often, the study noted.
The researchers also noticed a &#8220;marked increase&#8221; in the gender dysphoric group&#8217;s psychiatric needs over time.
The most common psychiatric problem was severe mood disorders, which were more prevalent in the gender dysphoric group than the control group. The second most common problem was anxiety disorders, which were about the same for both groups.
Autism was also more common among the gender dysphoric group.
The study also found that people seeking transgender treatments now tend to have more psychiatric issues than the people who sought out treatment in the &#8217;90s and early 2000s.
One of the study&#8217;s authors is Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/physician-who-pioneered-transgender-hormone-treatments-for-children-speaks-out-about-dangers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">helped</a> pioneer transgender hormone treatments for children in Europe but now sounds the alarm on medicalizing gender-distressed children.
Back in 2011, Kaltiala was put in charge of the youth gender clinic at Finland&#8217;s Tampere University Hospital, and she had concerns from the start.
“We were being told to intervene in healthy, functioning bodies simply on the basis of a young person’s shifting feelings about gender,” Kaltiala said last month. &#8220;The young people we were treating were not thriving. Instead, their lives were deteriorating.&#8221;
Kaltiala also sounded the alarm on American medicine pushing the “affirming” model of transgender services for children.
Hundreds of teen girls in the U.S., some as young as 12, <a href="https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/generalpediatrics/101252?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2022-10-17&amp;eun=g394940d0r&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%20Evening%202022-10-17&amp;utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_dual-gmail-definition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have gotten</a> elective, gender-related double mastectomies to remove their healthy breasts over the last few years.
Meanwhile, gender identity changes are more popular than ever among children. An estimated 300,000 minors aged 13 to 17 <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/transgender-estimate-press-release/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identified</a> as transgender as of last year.

US-HEALTH-VIRUS-SUICIDE-ADOLESCENTS

Mental Health Issues Persist After Transgender Medical Treatment, New Finnish Study Shows

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Russia has forced its neighbor Finland to close most of its border crossings after sending hundreds of migrants — mostly from the Middle East — into the Nordic country, according to the Finnish government. 
Finland closed all but one of its eight border crossings over the past two weeks after more than 700 migrants from countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Morocco, Pakistan, and Kenya crossed into the country, Reuters <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-finland-border-migrants-afghanistan-yemen-syria-rcna126557">reported</a>. The newest NATO country accused Moscow of sending an increased number of asylum-seekers over the past few days, but the Kremlin is denying that charge. 
“Illegal immigration at Finland&#8217;s eastern border has continued to grow and has also expanded to other border crossings. Based on the observations made by the Border Guard and other authorities and the information received, it is clear that the authorities of a foreign country and other actors have a role in facilitating the arrival of persons who have crossed the border to Finland,” the country <a href="https://valtioneuvosto.fi/paatokset/paatos?decisionId=157">said</a> in a statement on Wednesday. 
Since August, the country of roughly 5.6 million people, has seen around 800 migrants without proper documentation attempt to enter Finland with 700 of those migrants arriving in November <a href="https://apnews.com/article/finland-russia-border-frontex-guards-2fc202b3a900d6887e0152b235a0a00d">according</a> to the Associated Press. Finland connected the increased illegal immigration to “international crime,” saying the crisis poses a major threat to the country if it’s not stopped. 
“The phenomenon is also related to international crime,” the statement continued. “The phenomenon and the threat of its further expansion pose a serious threat to national security and public order in Finland and elsewhere in the Schengen area. The measures in accordance with the current decision have not stopped the phenomenon in the intended way.” 
Last week, Finland closed half of its border crossings before closing three more overnight Thursday. The only border crossing remaining open is Finland’s northernmost in Raja-Jooseppi, which is above the Arctic circle. Finland’s Border Guard said the Raja-Jooseppi crossing will continue to accept asylum applications as well, according to Reuters. 
Open Source Intelligence Analyst Emil Kastehelmi posted a video on X, which appeared to show migrants walking toward Finland from Russia. Kastehelmi said the asylum-seekers were dropped off near the Finnish border and given bikes.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Recent developments in Finland:
Over the past few days, Russia has sent an increasing number of migrants to Finland&#39;s borders. Finland has closed several border crossing points due to the authorities&#39; threat assessment.
A video surfaced of the Russian operation. 1/ <a href="https://t.co/Vb7c1iLLmD">pic.twitter.com/Vb7c1iLLmD</a>
&mdash; Emil Kastehelmi (@emilkastehelmi) <a href="https://twitter.com/emilkastehelmi/status/1726349169869377855?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The European Union has acknowledged Finland’s border crisis and sent up to 50 additional border patrol officers and equipment to help the country crack down on illegal immigration. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo sounded the alarm on the issue during an address to Parliament on Thursday. 
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“Finland cannot be influenced, Finland cannot be destabilized,” Orpo said. “Russia started this, and Russia also can stop it.”

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Middle Eastern Illegal Immigrants Overwhelming Finland’s Border At Russia’s Direction, Finnish Government Says

Middle Eastern Illegal Immigrants Overwhelming Finland's Border At Russia's Direction, Finnish Government Says

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A Finnish politician who was on trial over her Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality was found not guilty after the “hate crime” charges she faced were dismissed on Tuesday. 
Parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen faced state charges related to her sharing a 2019 tweet that included pictures of Bible verses,  a radio debate she had in 2019, and a pamphlet she wrote on marriage back in 2004. The Helsinki Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the charges and those faced by Bishop Juhana Pohjola, who published Räsänen&#8217;s 2004 pamphlet called “Male and Female He Created Them.”
“I am deeply relieved. The court has fully endorsed and upheld the decision of the district court, which recognized everyone’s right to free speech,” Räsänen <a href="https://adfinternational.org/breaking-finnish-parliamentarian-found-not-guilty-of-hate-speech-for-bible-tweet-and-other-expressions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> after the court ruling was announced. 
Räsänen, a member of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/finland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Finnish</a> parliament, was supported in her defense by the Alliance Defending Freedom International. The prosecution must cover Räsänen’s legal bills according to the appeals court. 
“It isn’t a crime to tweet a Bible verse, or to engage in public discourse with a Christian perspective. The attempts made to prosecute me for expressing my beliefs have resulted in an immensely trying four years, but my hope is that the result will stand as a key precedent to protect the human right to free speech. I sincerely hope other innocent people will be spared the same ordeal for simply voicing their convictions,” Räsänen added. 
While Räsänen was unanimously acquitted by the District Court of Helsinki for the same charges back in March 2022, state prosecutors sought to appeal the lower court’s ruling earlier this year. 
The appeals court said that it had “no reason, on the basis of the evidence received at the main hearing, to assess the case in any respect differently from the District Court. There is therefore no reason to alter the final result of the District Court’s judgment.”  
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During the case, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/finnish-politician-back-in-court-for-criminal-interpretation-of-bible-verses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prosecutors argued</a> that they “can limit freedom of expression in the outward expression of religion.” They also said that the 2019 tweet was criminal because of Räsänen’s interpretation of the verse. “You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal,” one prosecutor said.  
Paul Coleman, the executive director of ADF International, celebrated the ruling but added that hate speech laws were dangerous for societies. 
“While we celebrate this monumental victory, we also remember that it comes after four years of police investigations, criminal indictments, prosecutions, and court hearings. We applaud the Helsinki Court of Appeal’s ruling in this case, and we work towards the bigger victory when such ludicrous cases are no longer brought,” he said.

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Finnish Court Dismisses Hate Crime Charges Against Politician On Trial Over Christian Beliefs

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A physician who helped pioneer transgender hormone treatments for children in Europe is now speaking out about the dangers of medicalizing gender-distressed children.
Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, 58, is the chief adolescent psychiatrist at Finland’s Tampere University Hospital. In 2011, she was put in charge of Tampere&#8217;s new youth gender clinic, making her one of the first physicians in the world to lead a clinic devoted to gender-distressed youth.
However, Kaltiala had concerns about the so-called &#8220;affirming&#8221; model of transgender treatment from the start, and now she is warning about the dangers of affirming children&#8217;s new gender identities and green-lighting medical intervention.
&#8220;I had some serious questions about all this,&#8221; Kaltiala wrote in an <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/gender-affirming-care-dangerous-finland-doctor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-ed</a> in The Free Press published Monday.
&#8220;We were being told to intervene in healthy, functioning bodies simply on the basis of a young person’s shifting feelings about gender,&#8221; she wrote.
When the youth gender clinic began services, Kaltiala said they expected to see a small number of boys who had persistently declared they were girls. Instead, they saw &#8220;droves&#8221; of patients, 90% of whom were girls aged 15 to 17, and many of them had &#8220;severe psychiatric conditions&#8221; she said.
Some of the girls had family issues, and &#8220;many&#8221; were on the autism spectrum, Kaltiala said. In addition, many had suddenly announced their gender dysphoria in adolescence.
&#8220;Now they were coming to us because their parents, usually just mothers, had been told by someone in an LGBT organization that gender identity was their child’s real problem, or the child had seen something online about the benefits of transition,&#8221; she said.
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Soon after the clinic began offering transgender hormone treatments for youth, Kaltiala  and her colleagues began to see that the &#8220;miracle we had been promised was not happening.&#8221;
&#8220;What we were seeing was just the opposite,&#8221; Kaltiala said. &#8220;The young people we were treating were not thriving. Instead, their lives were deteriorating,&#8221; including the youth becoming socially isolated.
Meanwhile, Kaltiala&#8217;s colleagues in other countries were seeing the same trend, she said.
Kaltiala and some of her colleagues attempted to bring attention to their concerns, even putting out a study analyzing the gender clinic&#8217;s patients, but others in the field continued to work to expand the hormone treatments.
In 2015, the gender clinic started to notice &#8220;social contagion–linked gender dysphoria&#8221; when groups of teenage girls from the same area arrived telling the same stories about how they realized they were transgender, Kaltiala said.
Finally in 2016, Finland&#8217;s two pediatric gender clinics changed their protocols because of concerns about medically &#8220;transitioning&#8221; young patients. Currently, if a young patient has more urgent issues than gender dysphoria, the clinics refer them to another treatment, such as counseling, Kaltiala said.
Kaltiala said that in the early years, her psychiatric department agreed to help &#8220;transition&#8221; about half of the youth who came to the gender clinic. Now though, that number has dropped to about 20%, she said.
Some patients have since come back to Kaltiala&#8217;s clinic saying they regret their gender &#8220;transitions.&#8221;
In her op-ed, Kaltiala also sounded the alarm on American medicine pushing the &#8220;affirming&#8221; model of transgender services for children.
&#8220;I have been particularly concerned about American medical societies, who as a group continue to assert that children know their &#8216;authentic&#8217; selves, and a child who declares a transgender identity should be affirmed and started on treatment,&#8221; she wrote.
Kaltiala singled out the American Academy of Pediatrics, saying the group has been &#8220;actively hostile&#8221; to her message. The AAP is a the largest professional association for pediatricians in the country with 67,000 members.
She added that she is &#8220;disturbed&#8221; by how gender clinicians warn American parents that there is a much higher risk of suicide if they refuse to &#8220;transition&#8221; their child, calling it &#8220;dishonest and extremely unethical&#8221; and saying suicide is &#8220;very rare.&#8221;
&#8220;When medical professionals start saying they have one answer that applies everywhere, or that they have a cure for all of life’s pains, that should be a warning to us all that something has gone very wrong,&#8221; she wrote.
Meanwhile, gender identity changes are more popular than ever among children. An estimated 300,000 minors aged 13 to 17 <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/transgender-estimate-press-release/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identified</a> as transgender as of last year.

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The member of the Finnish parliament facing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/christian-politician-in-finland-grandmother-of-six-on-trial-after-posting-bible-tweet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prosecution over her religious beliefs</a> was back in court this week, facing a trial for expressing her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian</a> views on marriage and sexuality.
Parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen <a href="https://adfinternational.org/trial-about-censorship-of-finnish-politicians-bible-tweet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared</a> before the Helsinki Court of Appeal on Thursday and Friday to defend her beliefs after she was charged with “hate speech” violations, including for a 2019 tweet that included pictures of Bible verses and a pamphlet she wrote on marriage back in 2004.
“Everyone should be able to share their beliefs without fearing censorship by state-authorities. I know that the prosecution is trying to make an example of me to scare others into silence. Yet, you do not have to align with my views to agree that everyone should be able to speak freely. With God’s help I will remain steadfast and continue defending everyone’s human right to free speech,” Räsänen said on the first day of her new trial, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom International, which is supporting the parliamentarian’s defense. 
She was unanimously acquitted by the District Court of Helsinki for the same charges back in March 2022.
Bishop Juhana Pohjola is also being prosecuted for publishing the pamphlet under charges related to “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the criminal code of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/finland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Finland</a>. 
Prosecutors have argued that they “can limit freedom of expression in the outward expression of religion.” They also said that the 2019 tweet was criminal because of Räsänen&#8217;s interpretation of the verse. “You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal,” the prosecutor said. 
Paul Coleman, the executive director of ADF International and a member of Räsänen’s legal team, said that Finland’s hate speech laws were a danger to democratic societies. 
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“In a democratic society, everyone should be free to share their beliefs without fear of state prosecution. Criminalizing speech through so-called ‘hate-speech’ laws shuts down important public debates and endangers democracy. Cases like Päivi’s create a culture of fear and censorship and are becoming increasingly common worldwide. We hope the Helsinki Court of Appeal will uphold the fundamental right to freedom of speech and clear Päivi Räsänen of these baseless charges,” he said. 
The case has garnered international attention <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-lawmakers-slam-prosecution-of-finnish-politician-over-religious-beliefs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with Republicans urging</a> State Department Officials to step in and support Räsänen. Earlier this month, Republican representatives sent a letter to Douglas Hickey, America’s ambassador to Finland, and Rashad Hussain, the ambassador for the U.S. Office of Religious Freedom, in her defense.

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Finnish Politician Back In Court For ‘Criminal’ Interpretation Of Bible Verses

Finnish Politician Back In Court For 'Criminal' Interpretation Of Bible Verses

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Elon Musk has famously <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1688022163574439937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offered</a> to take up the costs of anyone who suffers professional losses for what they like or post on Twitter. Now, we need him to turn his attention to those suffering criminal charges at the hands of government for the same. This month has been rife with oppressive signs that Twitter is far from a safe space for the right to free expression.
On August 9th, Mexico’s highest court for electoral issues issued a final conviction in the case of former congressman <a href="https://adfinternational.org/mexican-civil-society-leader-found-guilty-of-gender-based-political-violence-for-tweets/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rodrigo Iván Cortés</a>. The court upheld a guilty verdict for “gender-based political violence” for Cortés’ assertion, on Twitter and Facebook, that a transgender-identifying congressional representative is a “man who self-ascribes as a woman.” The charges were levied after the representative sued on the basis of “denial of identity.”
For stating the truth of biological reality, Cortés has been walloped with draconian reparations measures, including the payment of a fine, and absurdly, a court order that he post the judgment and a court-drafted apology on his social media daily for 30 days. Further, he must attend a course for political violators, and register on a list of offenders. Needless to say, for saying what he believes on Twitter, Cortés’ life will never be the same.
Lest this sound too outrageous to have ever happened before, Cortés is not the only one. The same transgender representative filed a parallel suit and won against sitting Mexican congressman <a href="https://adfinternational.org/gabriel-quadri-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gabriel Quadri</a>. Interestingly, the representative, Salma Luévano, together with Maria Clemente, another transgender representative, is notorious for fomenting unrest within Mexico’s Congress, including presenting a “hate speech” bill aimed at Christian teaching on sexual morality while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNbxIAj4YTw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wearing</a> the vestments of a Catholic bishop.
Luévano also participated in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgwHLlUfHsc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">incident</a>, together with transgender representative Maria Clemente, in which the chair of the congressional session was physically ousted in an attempt to force the expulsion of Congressman Quadri for his views on what makes a man a man. Clemente also prompted international outrage by Tweeting explicit videos of Clemente’s own “sex work,” <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34wx9/mexico-trans-politician-maria-clemente-garcia-moreno" target="_blank" rel="noopener">citing</a> a right to freely share this kind of content on digital platforms. The irony is palpable.
Disagreement is not discrimination, and peaceful dissent should never be penalized as violence. It is deeply disturbing that Cortés and Quadri, who exercised their basic human right to peaceably share their views on a matter of significant current debate have been convicted as violent offenders when it is their political opponents who are perpetuating unrest within Mexico’s political institutions.
Now, both Cortés and Quadri have exhausted all avenues for justice in Mexico and are taking their cases to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, with the support of ADF International.
Also, this month, Finnish member of parliament <a href="https://adfinternational.org/free-speech-on-trial/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Päivi Räsänen</a> returns to court for a 2019 Twitter post that landed her with criminal charges of “hate speech” for “agitation of a minority group”. Räsänen’s tweet questioned her church’s participation in a local pride parade, and four years later, this much-loved civil servant, medical doctor, and grandmother is still bearing the cost of exercising her right to free expression.
Räsänen was fully acquitted in 2022, but the Finnish system permits legal double jeopardy allowing the prosecution to <a href="https://adfinternational.org/prosecutor-files-appeal-against-finnish-mps-major-free-speech-victory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeal</a> on the grounds that it was unsatisfied with the verdict. She will be back in court on August 31st, with charges against her that carry tens of thousands of euros in fines, and even the possibility of a two-year prison sentence.
Freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society and a basic right of everyone guaranteed by all major human rights treaties. Without it, all our other human rights erode. Happening before our eyes is a dangerous global trend to criminalize free expression. In a world facing mounting censorship, it’s never been more important to protect the right of every person to speak freely, whether you like what they’re saying or not.
Cortés, Quadri, and Räsänen have in common the peaceful expression of their convictions. And, notably, all experienced the brunt force of the law for daring to speak out on an “unwelcome” topic. Nobody should be punished, let alone criminally charged, for simply sharing what they believe. State-backed censorship blurs the line between dictatorships and democracies, leaving the rest of us with no choice but to question — how long before this happens to me?
Elyssa Koren is an international human rights lawyer and director of legal communications for <a href="https://www.adfinternational.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ADF International</a>, which is supporting the legal defense of Cortés, Quadri, and Räsänen. Follow her on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/elyssa_koren?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Elyssa_Koren</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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The Dangerous Global Trend Of Criminalizing Free Expression Online

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