The Petition of Cllr Mohammed Javed,
Declares that the Petitioner believes that the film, “The Innocence of Muslims” is disrespectful, offensive and untruthful, and could incite hatred towards Muslims.
The Petitioner therefore requests that the House of Commons urges the Government to take necessary measure to ban the film, and introduce new legislation to prevent Islamophobia and the incitement of religious hatred against Muslims.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Alex Cunningham, Official Report, 11 December 2012; Vol. 555, c. 264.]
[P001149]
Observations from the Secretary of State for the Home Department:
The Government are fully committed to tackling all forms of hate crime, including that fuelled by religious hatred, and have clearly stated that the film, “The Innocence of Muslims” was purposely designed to provoke outrage and disorder.
The United Kingdom already has in place one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to protect communities from hostility, violence and bigotry. We keep that framework under review to ensure that it remains effective in meeting new challenges, including those thrown up by the development and use of the internet.
Criminal offences related to religious hatred have been introduced and provide enhanced sentencing powers to reflect the seriousness of targeting a person or a group for a personal characteristic. For instance, there are criminal offences related to stirring up religious hatred under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006. The Act makes it an offence to use threatening words or behaviour, or display any written material which is threatening, if a person thereby intends to stir up religious hatred. The legislation also extends to distributing, showing or playing a recording and makes it an offence to distribute, show or play a recording if images or sounds are threatening and intend to stir up religious hatred.
We have a long tradition of freedom of speech in the United Kingdom. However, we have been clear of the need to balance the right to freedom of speech with the need to prevent actions which intimidate, threaten violence or incite others to hatred and we continue to stand by this. While there are frequently calls for the Government to ban websites and online material which carry offensive content, the content typically tends to fall short of the criminal threshold. Additionally the websites that host the film may be with internet service providers based outside of the UK and removing a website from one host is highly unlikely to remove it from the internet altogether.
The Government continue to work with internet industry representatives, to identify practical solutions for responding adequately to concerns about this kind of material. Where internet content is unlawful and is hosted overseas, the Government work with overseas Governments and law enforcement agencies and the internet industry in order to remove it. The Government are also engaging with industry representatives to explore a proposal for a code of conduct to remove material which breaches acceptable behaviour standards.