Speeches at UN likely to attack free speech

THE division in world opinion over what constitutes free speech will be on display again this week at the United Nations, where arguments over a proposed blasphemy law have been an annual feature for the past decade.

This time the global reaction to a YouTube video that disparages Islam's prophet Muhammad is sure to roil the meeting of the UN General Assembly.

Muslim leaders have vowed to discuss the offensive video from their UN platforms, sowing concern among free-speech activists of a fresh push to criminalise blasphemy internationally. Human rights groups and Western democracies resisted such a law for years and believed they had finally quashed the matter after persuading enough nations that repressive regimes use blasphemy laws to imprison or execute dissidents.

''I expect that we'll regress to where we were a couple of years ago,'' said Courtney Radsch, program manager for the Global Freedom of Expression Campaign at Freedom House, a Washington non-profit group that promotes democratic values. ''Human rights are not about protecting religions; human rights are to protect humans,'' Ms Radsch said. ''Who decides what blasphemy is?'' McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

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Speeches at UN likely to attack free speech