Newspaper Cartoon a Hate Crime, Islamic Group Claims
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Police in Halifax are investigating a complaint about a political cartoon that some members of a local Islamic group claim is a hate crime.
The cartoon, published April 18 in the Chronicle Herald newspaper, depicts a woman in a burka holding a sign that reads, “I want millions,” and she says, “I can put it towards my husband’s next training camp.”
The cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon is a reference to Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, a woman from Nova Scotia whose husband was arrested in 2006 in an anti-terrorism raid. Qayyum Abdul Jamal was released from jail after charges against him were stayed on April 15.
Zia Khan, director of the Centre for Islamic Development in Halifax, said the cartoon goes beyond what can be considered free speech.
“You would not put a native American Indian with feathers and say I need money in order to cull white people’s heads. You wouldn’t do that. This would be libellous,” he said.
Khan’s group called police on April 21. He said the group also filed a complaint with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, a hate crime is committed to intimidate, harm or terrify an entire group of people to which the victim belongs. The victims are targeted for who they are, not because of anything they have done.
Dan Leger, the Herald’s director of news content, said the cartoon does not take aim at all Muslims.
“The whole purpose of that cartoon was to comment on the outrageous demands of this individual for compensation long before any hearing into her case had ever been held,” he said.
In an interview with the Herald before the cartoon ran, Jamal said she wanted to sue the federal government for what her family has gone through and told the reporter, “I want millions,” Leger noted.
“[MacKinnon] depicted her exactly the way she looks and used her own words, and that’s the genius of cartooning that you’re able to do that,” he said.
Leger said he first heard of the Islamic group’s concerns when the newspaper was contacted by police.
(Posted on May 13, 2008)
Comments
Zia Khan is not, and never will be, the name of an expert on free speech.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 8:01 PM on May 13
Gessh I wish I knew how to draw, I’d make old muhamad look like fankenstien with a turban…..hehehhe
Posted by lydia at 9:29 PM on May 13
“You would not put a native American Indian with feathers and say I need money in order to cull white people’s heads. You wouldn’t do that. This would be libellous,” he said.
No, it would not be libelous, it would be in bad taste and as of yet bad taste is not against the law.
Posted by idareya at 9:53 PM on May 13
Muslims don’t understand Western satire, so why are they in the West? If they go back to Muslimland, they can be free of all of this infidel harassment and embrace their camels, flying carpets and that Koran rag(yeah, that’s how we spelled it in English for centuries) that they hold so dear.
Posted by Holden at 11:41 PM on May 13
Muslims aren’t the only group in Canada who thinks they should be legally protected from criticism and it wasn’t Muslims who got Canada’s speech-crime laws passed.
Posted by Joe at 12:14 AM on May 14
“Muslims aren’t the only group in Canada who thinks they should be legally protected from criticism and it wasn’t Muslims who got Canada’s speech-crime laws passed.
Posted by Joe”
Yep. We all know who the culprets are. Books burnings are now back in fashion in Canaduh again. The irony is that the challenge to freedom is coming from the left this time.
Posted by Amsterdamsky at 7:39 AM on May 14
Muslims with no sense of humor; No way!
Posted by Louis from Montreal at 9:26 AM on May 14
Perhaps I’m wrong on this, and most certainly the diversity police must think I’m evil… but how can you ever expect to change a culture without criticizing it? Let alone, 35 years of change.
Posted by LHathaway at 1:34 PM on May 14