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May 31, 2005
Oriana Fallaci to Stand Trial for Defamation of Islam
Topics: Freedom's ZoneI have previously posted on the "supreme act of dhimmitude and disregard for free speech" in which an Italian preliminary judge, Armando Grasso, in the northern Italian city of Bergamo, ordered Oriana Fallaci, a best-selling writer and journalist, to stand trial in her native Italy on charges she defamed Islam in a recent book. The judge ordered this, in spite of the fact that state prosecutors had originally dismissed accusations of defamation from an Italian Muslim organization, and said Fallaci should not stand trial because she was merely exercising her right to freedom of speech. Muslim activists have accused Fallaci of inciting religious hatred in her 2004 work "La Forza della Ragione" (The Force of Reason). At the time, I wondered just how Oriana could be made to stand trial in Italy, if she lives in New York. Today I found this a post at "Media Law Professor Blog" with some legal insight on the matter.
Christine, at Media Law Professor Blog, posted on May 26 that "an investigative judge in Bergamo, Italy, is ordering prosecutors to proceed with charges against writer Oriana Fallaci for defamation of Islam in her book The Force of Reason under articles 403 and 406 of the Italian Criminal Code, according to news reports in the Italian press. The first step is the drawing up of charges, based on the complaints by Adel Smith, who heads the Italian Muslim Union. If the case proceeds further, the prosecutors will serve Fallaci under the appropriate international agreement. However, in the same post, Christine writes that Professor Alberto Zuppi of the Louisiana State University Law Center, an expert in extradition law, notes that if, once properly served, Fallaci should refuse to appear voluntarily at the trial, the Italian government might have a great deal of difficulty extraditing her."
Christine continues that "the problem lies in the doctrine of dual criminality. While Italian law criminalizes the defamation of a state-recognized religion, the First Amendment(of the U.S. Constitution) is designed to protect expressions of opinion regarding religion and groups. The only group libel case ever decided by the Supreme Court, Beauharnais v. Illinois (1952) was subsequently seriously questioned by a 7th Circuit panel in Collin v. Smith (578 F. 2d 1197 (1978)). Even if we recognize group libel and group defamation in the U.S., is it a federal criminal offense? Of course, the Italian prosecution will argue that what Fallaci wrote is not opinion, but statement of fact, and that further, it is falsehood."
Additionally, according to Christine, "Professor Zuppi believes that Italy's four-pronged scheme for handling in absentia trials may have some procedural drawbacks that would also cause problems, further delaying and perhaps completely scuttling any chances that the U. S. would agree to extradite Fallaci to Italy, should she decline to appear."
From Christine's site: For news reports see Crispian Balmer's May 25th article and a Washington Times piece. For more on dual criminality see Jonathan O. Hafen, Comment: International Extradition: Issues Arising Under the Dual Criminality Requirement, 1992 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 191.
Posted by Hyscience at May 31, 2005 10:14 PM
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