Well, it doesn't offend me, so that's different, okay?

Mohamed Elmasry in 2004, on the controversy over whether Al-Jazeera would be allowed to broadcast in Canada:

Last week, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission managed to eviscerate free speech in Canada - under the pretense of protecting us from harm.

[...]

In a democratic society, all voices should be heard - even ones whose viewpoint some of us might oppose. My organization, the Canadian Islamic Congress, disagrees with much of what is published in this newspaper [the National Post], for example. But we still support its right to publish, and the right of people to buy it.

Canadians must question the CRTC's decision to sacrifice Canadian rights of free speech to silence an Arabic-language news network whose only sin, ironically, is that it believes in the Western notion of freedom of speech.

Stirring words. If only he really believed them...

Damian P.

Posted by damian at December 11, 2007 08:52 AM