Charlie Hebdo and Freedom of Expression

• Jurisdiction: Derecho Internacional
• Date: 01 April 2015

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2015 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

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Note. I am most grateful to the faculty and students of the Human Rights and Human

Diversity Program, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford campus, for their comments

on a lecture I delivered based on this article on March 11, 2015. I am particularly

grateful to Dr. Andrew Robinson for his discussion of my argument.

THE CHARLIE HEBDO MURDERS AND FREEDOM

OF SPEECH

RHODA E. HOWARD-HASSMANN

Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights

Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

E-mail: hassmann@wlu.ca

I. BACKGROUND

e murders of twelve people at the site of the French satiric publication,

Charlie Hebdo, are the latest in a series of incidents that have rocked the

Western liberal faith in the importance of freedom of speech.

e rst incident was the Salman Rushdie aair in 1988-89. Rushdie,

a novelist and British citizen of Indian Muslim background, had already

written several well-known novels, among them Midnight’s Children,1 set

in India and Shame,2 set in Pakistan, both based on real political characters

and events. In 1988 he published e Satanic Verses.3 Some Muslims

1. S R, M’ C (1981).

2. S R, S (1983).

3. S R, T S V (1988).