7 Winter 2015-2016 inflammatory material. They fled the UK to the U.S., where they claimed asylum, but were returned nearly one year later, having failed in their asylum claim. On July 14, 2008, Whittle was convicted of a further count of the same offense, and Sheppard of a further two counts, in their absence. On July 10, 2009, Sheppard was sentenced to four years and ten months imprisonment, and Whittle to two years and four months imprisonment. The material, which included antisemitic, Holocaust denial, and other criminally racist content, was posted on the heretical.com website, that Sheppard managed, and was hosted in California. The Court held that as the material in question was uploaded in the UK, and that it was available to the public at large, the offense occurred in the UK, and was therefore subject to British jurisdiction and was not extra jurisdictional as the defendants had argued. The convictions were upheld by the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court, although Sheppard’s sentence was reduced by the former.15 On June 12, 2013, the French Court of Appeal rejected Twitter ’s attempt to shield the identities of those responsible for antisemitic posts made in 2012 with the hashtag #unbonjuif (a good Jew), that contravened French laws on hate speech. The Union of French Jewish Students (UEJF) and four anti-racism organizations had asked Twitter to reveal the identities of the posters and to make it easy for its users to flag messages that contravene French hate speech laws. In March 2013, faced with Twitter’s reluctance to hand over the names, UEJF filed a criminal complaint against the company. Twitter appealed the initial ruling, which the Court rejected on June 12, 2013, ordering it to pay compensation and costs.16 In November 2010, Mohammed Sandia was convicted at Edinburgh’s Sherrif’s Court in Scotland for posting remarks on the website of The Scotsman newspaper in March 2008, which included “Jews are not fit to breathe our air. They must be attacked wherever you see them: throw rocks at their ugly hooked-nosed women and mentally ill children, and light up the REAL ovens." He pleaded guilty, but sentence was deferred for a year pending reports on his behavior. When he appeared for sentencing in December 2011, he was found guilty and admonished, but no custodial sentence was handed down.17 In April 2013, four men from various Italian cities were convicted of inciting race hatred after posting antisemitic and white supremacist messages on the Italian website of the U.S. based neo-Nazi Stormfront website. A Rome court sentenced them for promoting and directing a group whose purpose was the instigation to ethnic, religious and racial discrimination and violence. Additionally, the Court found the men guilty of “targeting Jews and immigrants, advocating the supremacy of the white race and instigating racism and Holocaust denial.”18 In June 2013, a court in Feldkirch, Austria, sentenced a neo-Nazi to eighteen months in prison for posting on Facebook pictures of Adolf Hitler, swastikas and other material banned in Austria. The defendant admitted uploading the material but stated that he was not aware that it could be seen by anyone and that he did not intend to glorify Nazism. The Court however pointed out that his computer contained other material that is illegal and that he was active on the skinhead scene.19 In July 2013, Manchester-based DM Digital, a Muslim television channel, was fined £85,000 by OFCOM, the UK broadcasting regulator, for broadcasting a program in which Abdul Qadir Jilani, an east London-based preacher, urged Muslims to kill anyone who insulted Islam.20 15. Sheppard & Whittle v. Regina, EWCA Crim 65 (January 29, 2010), available at www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/ Crim/2010/65.html (last visited Sept. 10, 2015). 16. Somini Sengupta, Twitter yields to pressure in hate case in France, N.Y. TIMES, July 13, 2013, available at www.nytimes. com/2013/07/13/technology/twitter-yields-to-pressurein-hate-case-in-france.html (last visited Sept. 9, 2015). 17. Narrative for Court on November 10, 2010, Procurator Fiscal Edinburgh v. Mohammad Sandia, ED09013728, document in author’s possession. Sandia posted the comments on March 1, 2008 and March 2, 2008, but the Scotsman web-link no longer exists; Mohammed Sandia sentenced for posting Anti-Semitic comments on the Scotsman website, Dec. 9, 2011, SCOTTISH COUNCIL OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES, available at www.scojec.org/news/2011/11xii_sandia.html (last visited Sept. 9, 2015). 18. Four race-crime convictions for neo-Nazi website, GAZZETTA DEL SUD, April 8, 2013, available at www.gazzettadelsud. it/news/english/41782/Four-race-crime-convictions-forneo-Nazi-website.html (last visited Sept. 9, 2015). 19. Austrian neo-Nazi gets jail term for Facebook posts, THE NEW AGE, June 27, 2013, available at www.thenewage.co. za/99730-1020-53-Austrian_neoNazi_gets_jail_term_for_ Facebook_posts (last visited Sept. 9, 2015). 20. David Barrett, Muslim television channel fined after preacher of hate incited murder live on air, THE TELEGRAPH, July 5, 2013, available at www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ terrorism-in-the-uk/10162099/Muslim-television-channelfined-after-preacher-of-hate-incited-murder-live-on-air. html (last visited Sept. 9, 2015).
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