On Rhys Morgan’s (currently very busy) Facebook page – a guy called Safwan Ahmed, a graduate of Rhys’s school, posted to say
take that blog down before i fly kick you!
Rhys said no, Ahmed replied
inappropriate and offensive! take it down before you lose the remaining half of your penis.
Someone tried to tell Ahmed that threats are a serious matter and can be reported to the authorities. Ahmed replied
nah no argument cbf wasting time with u. sorry if you were looking for a rebuttal, i will deal with this matter personally.
More back and forth, culminating in Ahmed’s
hahahahha scott you amuse me in the sense that your a fucking sad prick! look at my avatar? id rather not! go stick your avatar up your ass you lame cunt! Rhys u can stfu i will be seeing u soon!
Helen Dale said she was taking a screenshot, and Safwan Ahmed went silent. Hooray for that, at least – but this is what’s at stake – threats of violence over benign cartoon images on blogs.
And Rhys got called a cunt, too. Harmless, right?
Is making an internet threat a crime in Britain? If it is, has anyone informed the police or other appropriate authorities?
” Safwan Ahmed, a graduate of Rhys’s school”
If that‘s what education at his school produces, I’m surprised Rhys wants to continue to go there.
Yes, though if this is a first offence I’d guess the perpetrator would probably only get a police caution (which does constitute a criminal record, however). Might be difficult proving who it actually was, I suppose, even if they were using this Safwan Ahmed’s own computer.
Silenced by a threat of a screenshot… which tells us what the real threat level was all along.
To those who are protecting these Muslim’s oh so delicate feelings and threatening an innocent student with expulsion from his school, I have some news for you, you are the bad guys. Freedom of expression, in the civilised world, was won for us by people who were willing to face death and torture. Yes, death and torture because they knew how important it was to stand up to people just like you. You use what limited power you have to censor people that you disagree with, oh sorry, you don’t disagree, you just feel the need to protect the feelings of others who disagree. If you really had unlimited power as did the enemies of free speech in the past, I dread to think what you would be threatening this student with. you people are an absolute disgrace and should be ashamed of yourselves.
inappropriate and offensive! take it down before you lose the remaining half of your penis.
This is rather fine, considering that Mr. Ahmed, who is, apparently, a Muslim, is also probably missing the same piece of epidermis.
Anyone know if Ahmed’s identity is real? Sometimes, in these heated threads, you get non-Muslims imitating the “pissed off” Islamist just to flame things.
Sadly, looks like there could be some seriousness in his threats, especially if he is a former pupil.
Considering that we’re talking about the UK, Rhys probably has his still. No, I didn’t verify that.
Aratina
This time it’s serious, it’s against a man.
No kidding, it is serious, and the perp should get at least a visit from the police
@Aratina Cage:
I’m sure we’ve got some sexist “friends” in the atheist/skeptic community who can take some time out from their outrage over the religious issue to let us all know that the use of “cunt” is perfectly acceptable here, because it doesn’t carry its obvious meaning.
Or is it “ally” that they prefer to use as they ignore equality in favor of getting along with the oppressors?
Profile pic changed – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1578617488&ref=tn_tnmn
Profile pic changed also – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1131872906&v=info
So is someone forcing the offended person to look at this FB profile picture? He could, um, click to someone else’s picture or turn his computer off.
I have the screenshots still but have not yet contacted the police (either Lothian and Borders up here, who would contact their colleagues in England, or the UK’s anti-terror hotline):
http://www.met.police.uk/so/at_hotline.htm
I am reluctant to make a move until I know Rhys’s view of the incident in question (which I watched unfolding before me in stunned horror, I have to say).
An approach in Scotland would see things ‘moving forward’, although once it reaches England, it’s difficult to say what may happen. Scots take a much dimmer view of any sort of sectarianism or religious hatred than do the English, mainly due to the country’s historic experience with the Old Firm and associated violence. This dislike of religiously motivated and manufactured ‘offence’ extends to Muslims who try the same thing.
I am conscious, however, that Rhys is 17, is about to sit his AS-Levels, and has to keep focussed on his studies as well as keeping sane. There is a part of me that really wants the book thrown at the thug who threatened him (if only on the pour encourager les autres principle). And there is a part of me that wants to leave well alone.
Advice, please.
skeptic lawyer
Is there a time limit in the UK for filing charges? I know that here it’s 6 months.
I don’t know Rhys, I think it’s his decission, but I also think that his parents should at least have that stuff in case anything happens.
“Is making an internet threat a crime in Britain? ”
If you’re joking and the subject is an airport, yes.
If you’re serious, you’re religious and you’re targeting a student, I doubt it.
Maybe Safwan Ahmed should have said:
“… fuck off and take that blog down before i anally introduce you to my dead porcupine!”
Then all would have been well.
How random. Good luck finding a comment like that on my sites.
“Go fuck yourself with a decaying porcupine” is a bit of a meme on Pharyngula, Ophelia.
Greg thinks that it makes us hypocrites for complaining about gender-based slurs and threats of sexual violence.
He messed it up, though. As far as I know, nobody has ever offered to personally introduce anybody to their porcupine. Instead, it’s always phrased as an invitation: “Go fuck yourself…” or “Here’s your porcupine, you know what to do with it.”
Unless dead porcupines are a marginalized minority, Greg’s barking up the wrong tree.
Sally, I know it is, but I don’t know what on earth Greg thinks he’s shown by mentioning it here. It’s not a meme here and it’s not going to be, so his devastating point falls flat.
But Ophelia… didn’t you know that Freethoughtblogs is a hivemind thought police echo chamber?