The fine was, of course, proof of the truth of what Holbrook said.
“UK Lawyer Fined £500 for Saying Free Speech ‘Dying’ Due to ‘Islamists and Other Muslims’ Wins Appeal,” by Jack Montgomery, Breitbart, April 1, 2022:
A lawyer fined £500 ($660) by regulators after saying that “free speech is dying and Islamists and other Muslims are playing a central role” has won an appeal to the Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service, telling Breitbart the campaign against him was “politically motivated”.
Jon Holbrook, a British barrister who styles himself as a “critic of identity politics” who has been “cancelled for defying the woke”, had tweeted the remark in October 2020 in response to a British Muslim activist demanding that the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo — which lost a number of staff to a radical Islamic terror attack in 2015 after publishing depictions of Islam’s prophet — “must be shut down immediately by French authorities”.
Despite the social media post’s relatively limited reach — 23 retweets, 61 likes, and seven replies, as of the time of publication — the Bar Standards Board (BSB) saw fit to punish Holbrook for exercising his right to free speech, subjecting him to an investigation and imposing the £500 fine as a so-called “administrative sanction”.
“The charges against me were always politically motivated, that’s how the left works,” Holbrook told Breitbart London.
“Whether they’re in unpaid activist groups or salaried regulatory offices, they instinctively seek to ban speech they don’t like. But from now on they’ll have to think twice: political speech should be debated, never silenced,” he continued hopefully.
“Regulators of the professions who seek to censor with sanctions now know that if they infringe political speech they’re probably breaking the law. Worse still, they’ll be undermining democracy.”
“Who will lead the struggle to reinstate free speech as the foundation of all other freedoms?” the lawyer added.
The BSB had imposed the sanction on Holbrook after finding that 17 other politically incorrect tweets, once of which resulted in him being sacked by his chambers, Cornerstone Barristers, despite “an unblemished professional record”, did not amount to a breach of standards.
The BSB found that the free speech tweet, however, “would not only cause offence but could promote hostility towards Muslims as a group” and warned him to “take care to consider how your public posts as a barrister may impact on you and/or the profession and take care to consider the standards set out in the BSB Handbook and any supporting guidance”, further accusing him of a “Lack of remorse” and “Lack of insight”.
somehistory says
Good for him. For saying it, and for winning his appeal.
mortimer says
Stating the obvious!
If you say that Islam restricts your freedom of speech, then we will RESTRICT your freedom of speech!
El Mayor says
True, Mortimer. Just as if, were you to challenge the idea that islam is the religion of peace, a muslim may well kill you to prove that it is.
gravenimage says
Spot on.
Bruce Stanton says
Bravo!
Kenneth J Johnson says
Now and then some one tells it like lit is about the muslem influence. It’s becoming expensive to do so, howeveer. Let’s hope Mr Holbrook gets a position with a firm that believes in democracy and the freedom of speech., KEN
Eva says
Good man!!! I hope he sues his former chambers into oblivion!!!
Fitna says
Good for him, freedom of speech is the line in the sand, lose it and you’ll lose all your other freedoms. It’s unfortunate we have Muslims in our countries pushing the limits of all our rights and freedoms but at least they’re forcing us to reinvigorate our defense of our fundamental rights and liberties.
When they smell weakness, because Lefties are telling us to shut up or we’ll get fined, jailed, ofc Muslims are going to pour gasoline on the fire and make even stronger demands.
By fighting back, we can not just retain our rights but then put Islam on the table as an ideology that needs examining for being anti-free speech and then working to ban and remove it because it goes against everything we hold dear in the West.
So this was a nice win in these gloomy times where Leftists and Muslims are trampling all over us.
Keith O says
About time common sense and free speech had a win against the thought police.
mortimer says
Islamic blasphemy law is TYRANNICAL.
Wellington says
Yes indeed, Islamists and free speech don’t work together.
But for all the moral relativists out there, this collection of fools might very well respond, and as I have had more than a few respond to me personally, that Christian and Jewish terrorists are equally problematical with Muslim terrorists.
Yes, we have entered an era this dumb and it is loaded with many dumb people, including a bevy of fools with advanced degrees.
Westman says
Wish we could fast forward 50 years and hear the remorse for giving away the UK, the collapse of Islam in the West, or, observe that the citizens woke up and reclaimed their nation. Unfortunately, I won’t be in this life 50 years hence.
After observing “globalization” for a generation, I don’t see the Federation of Star Trek fame in a Leftist World’s future. The Totalitarians, cowards except in mobs, are already demanding control over the minutiae of citizen’s lives; the Brave New World of child sexualization being the current installment.
mortimer says
Good comments from Wellington.
The USEFUL IDIOTS who defend Islamic blasphemy law are playing into the hands of the mullahs who demand to have a TOTAL MONOPOLY to speak about Islam. When they get that, NO ONE will be able to make ANY COMMENT about Islam or Muslims, no matter how horrible are the crimes committed by Muslims.
Tyranny should be CHALLENGED, and never defended.
CheckBurry says
I hear on news today an isis torcher chief who ran a group in isis of 300 torcherers is in UK and is being allowed to stay here as deporting this POS to afghanistan would be dangerous for him, based on human rights laws, so about time we changed them.
mortimer says
It is beyond absurd that LAWYERS would try to restrict the freedom of expression more. There are already, on the books, laws that restrict slander and libel. Those laws are sufficient.
To say that Islam restricts freedom of expression is 100% accurate and irrefutable. Sharia law not only restricts BLASPHEMY, but it restricts ANY STATEMENT or INNUENDO that brings the slightest disapproval of Islam or that reduces the ‘PRESTIGE’, ‘IMAGE’ or ‘HONOR’ of Islam. In effect, Sharia law’s so-called blasphemy law gives the mullahs a total MONOPOLY to speak about Islam.
Islam is an HONOR/SHAME culture and if someone mentions anything which challenges the ‘HONOR’ of Islam or mentions something accurate that Muslims are ASHAMED of, then that statement (and the person who made it) must be PENALIZED according to Sharia law. The penalty in most cases will be DEATH by murder or execution.
CogitoErgoSum says
I’m glad he won his appeal but to be more precise I would say free speech is dying because of Islam and Marxism – both of which are dumb ideas that need to be freely discussed but whose adherents don’t want discussed because they can’t stand the thought of anyone telling them their ideas are dumb. Censorship is the best way to make dumb seem smart and to keep everyone else dumb by always putting feelings before logic.
gravenimage says
+1
gravenimage says
UK: Lawyer wins appeal after being fined $660 for saying free speech was ‘dying’ due to ‘Islamists’
The fine was, of course, proof of the truth of what Holbrook said.
…………….
It is indeed. And note, this was in response to a Muslim trying to get Charlie Hebdoe shut down after his coreligionists mass murdered people there.
So now saying that this is wrong gets you sanctioned in the UK. Kudos to Jon Holbrook for defying this insanity–and for this court for supporting him. If he hadn’t been a lawyer himself, though, would he have been able to fight this ugly insanity?
Issei says
So telling the truth can get you fined. Islam has no place in western society. If you can’t be critical of a religion that wants you dead or enslaved if you don’t agree with it, then that religion is weak. Therefore it cannot be from God, rendering it false. Good for this man keep speaking the truth.
Bramster says
Islam is the curse of our earth. When Oh! when are the rest of the world population going to understand this and deal with them?
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
Keep my Islam out ya effing mouth!
Alfredo says
He was fined for telling the truth!
We are living in very absurd times.
Good for him that he was able to win on appeal. The level of infiltration is quite concerning. It reaches all the way to the highest places.
The Islamists are using the money they get from the West for their oil to infiltrate, undermine and subvert and if Westerners don’t smarten up to overtake Western Democracies.
The infiltration is such that in countries like the UK, since the British got hoodwinked by the Muslim Brotherhood into accepting Sharia as a paralell legal system, that we see such outrageous cases as this one.