In sentencing Letsoalo, magistrate Heidi Barnard said hateful statements of the kind made by Letsoalo were in violation of the constitution and were becoming all too prevalent in SA. She said the courts therefore had a responsibility to deal firmly with such incidents to send a strong message that such behaviour would not be tolerated.
Barnard said it was for this reason she decided to impose the maximum jail term allowed by a district court. However, in view of Letsoalo having entered a guilty plea and expressed remorse for his actions, the sentence would be suspended for five years subject to his not repeating the same offence.“The fact that the maximum sentence was imposed is an encouraging demonstration of the seriousness with which the courts are viewing hate speech, in this case anti-Semitism, and we believe it will be a deterrent to people who feel they are free to engage in such behaviour in our country,” she said.
Kahn said the ruling had established an important precedent for similar cases the SAJBD might have to lay in future and heralded tougher consequences for anti-Semites.
EFFSouthAfrica
But when Jews insult and draw our prophet as a cartoon it's called freedom of speech. When white call black people names, no one gets sent to prison. So Jews are a superior race even in this country?
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Sentencing sets precedent against hate speech: SA Jewish Board of DeputiesThe Randburg magistrate's court has sentenced Matome Letsoalo to three years' imprisonment, suspended for five years, for threatening and anti-Semitic tweets he posted in June 2018. Say something about the damn Jews and their primary industry will get you. Jewish board of deputies who is this? Something fishy going on hear I smell a rat Bull, our courts clearly view antisemitism as worse than racism in a country that has a painful and violent history of racism.
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