Strasbourg, France, Oct 26, 2018 / 18:00 pm America/Denver (CNA).
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this week upheld a conviction against an Austrian woman who called the Islamic prophet Muhammed a “pedophile.”
The ECHR said the conviction, which was also upheld in appeals courts in Austria, did not violate the woman’s freedom of expression.
According to the Associated Press, the woman convicted is in her late 40’s and has only been identified as E.S. She was charged for comments she made in 2009 at a seminar for Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, during which she said that the prophet Muhammed’s relationship with his wife Aisha constituted pedophilia.
Aisha is usually understood to be have been six or seven years old when she married the prophet, and nine or ten years old at the time of consummation.
E.S. has said that her comments were intended to spark debate and fell within her rights to freedom of speech. She was charged in 2011 by a Viennese court for disparaging religious doctrines. Upon conviction, she was fined 480 euros plus court costs. Her case was appealed and upheld twice in Austrian courts.