Strasbourg Court: Calling Prophet Muhammad is not free of speech

The court in Strasbourg, France, gave the final ruling on the issue raised by an Austrian citizen.

As the ECHR suggests, the 7-judge college unanimously ruled that statements with insulting content to Austrian Prophet Muhamed, 47-year-old in 2009 could be assessed under freedom of expression.

The controversial statements used have exceeded the limits of objective discussion and are classified as an abusive attack that contains insults/insults against the Islamic Prophet, which can promote prejudice and threaten religious freedom in Austria”, is said among other things in the GEDNJ communiqué, where it also adds that there has been no violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which covers freedom of expression.

An Austrian citizen made offensive statements to the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.) during a seminar in 2009. Two years later, in 2011, Vienna's Regional Criminal Court found him guilty of being fined 480 euros and operating expenses.

It appealed the verdict in question, but Vienna's Court of Appeals backed it in December 2011 by essentially confirming the court's decision in the first instance. A request for the renewal of the procedure was rejected by the Supreme Court on December 11, 2013. Austrian citizen then transferred the case to the European Court for Human Rights