SCOTLAND’S Justice Secretary since June 2018 Humza Yousaf has announced measures that could see Scottish citizens sent to prison for seven years for ‘criticism’ of religious groups. This legislation is also intended to also protect members of the LGBT community as well as the elderly from discrimination.
However, these measures have been criticised by freedom of speech defenders who have cited these developments as a draconian attempt to introduce blasphemy laws and to criminalise criticism and displeasure of certain issues. These issues include but are not limited to, race, sexuality and religious extremism.
This move by the Scottish Justice secretary is part of Scotland’s overhaul of its hate crime legislation. If this legislation is passed in Holyrood, as it is expected to do so, the ‘Hate Crime Bill’ will make any “stirring up” of hatred offences illegal; with citizens no longer able to criticise groups based on their age, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and “variations in sex characteristics”.
To date nothing has so far been mentioned as to what constitutes as a “stirring-up” of hate crimes. It is possible that Scottish citizens could become concerned about not being allowed to express their own personal views and opinions for fear of prosecution. Under current legislation, only racial hatred is covered by a “stirring up” offence.
This new law will also make it an offence, which will be punishable by up to seven years in prison, to possess ”threatening or abusive material” that could lead to hatred being stirred up against one of the protective groups. No examples of what the new law and those who will be enforcing consider to be ‘abusive material’ have been provided. This could leave the path clear for Scottish citizens to be targeted based on their political beliefs and party allegiances.
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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