France’s Sarkozy announces plans to jail repeat visitors to extremist websites [View all]
Source: Associated Press
France’s president proposed a sweeping new law Thursday that would see repeat visitors to extremist web sites put behind bars — one of several tough measures floated in the wake of a murderous shooting spree.
The proposed rules, unveiled by Nicolas Sarkozy after the death of an Islamist fanatic wanted for a horrifying series of execution-style murders, have alarmed journalists and legal experts, who say they risk pulling the plug on free expression.
... “Anyone who regularly consults Internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison,” he told a campaign rally in Strasbourg, in eastern France. “Don’t tell me it’s not possible. What is possible for pedophiles should be possible for trainee terrorists and their supporters, too.”
... “Trying to criminalize a visit — a simple visit — to a website, that’s something that seems disproportionate,” said Lucie Morillon, who runs the new media bureau of journalists’ watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/frances-sarkozy-announces-plans-to-prosecute-people-who-often-visit-extremist-websites/2012/03/22/gIQA9K0vTS_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read