A TORY MSP has written to Police Scotland threatening legal action unless a “hate incident” they have recorded against his name is deleted.MSP for the Mid Scotland and Fife region, was reported to police in November 2023 after he wrote on social media that “choosing to identify as ‘non-binary’ is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat”.
Fraser’s letter goes on: “Police Scotland has adopted a cavalier and disrespectful attitude towards me and my rights to freedom of expression and privacy, and the right to be informed of false and damaging information held on police records. In doing so, the police acted on the basis of a policy that is disproportionate, discriminatory, intrusive, irrational and otherwise unlawful.
“Inquiries were carried out and no criminality was established. The incident was recorded as a non-crime hate incident.‘Hate Incident’ involving Murdo Fraser On 25 November 2023, the same individual lodged a complaint with the Ethical Standards Commissioner of the Scottish Parliament, informing them of the original social media post and notifying them that they had reported the matter to the police who had recorded it as a hate incident and had provided them with a crime reference number, presumably in an attempt to bolster the credibility of their complaint.
Article 10 of the Convention provides “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers”. Political speech attracts an especially high level of protection under Article 10 and such rights can only be interfered with in very limited circumstances.Under s.
The HCNG is unlawful because it makes no allowance for Police Scotland to exercise common-sense discretion in determining whether there was a lawful justification to interfere with the alleged perpetrator’s right to freedom of expression.
Furthermore, the key feature of ‘hate incidents’ as described in the HCNG is the storing and processing of information. If there is to be no further investigation or action taken with regards to the incident, then it exists solely as an entry on the STORM, iVPD, and/or other police databases.
Since the HCNG does not require the police to undertake any kind of balancing exercise or further analysis, but rather record the incident as being based on ‘hatred’ solely on the say-so of the complainant, this makes it de facto impossible to articulate protected gender critical without running the risk of being subject to police action and having adverse information recorded against a person, a ‘chilling effect’ which constitutes a detriment contrary to s.
Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: Daily_Record - 🏆 9. / 89 Read more »
Former Tory MSP defends Scottish Hate Crime Act from 'propagandists'MISGENDERING people or asserting that biological sex is a reality are “not and never can be a hate crime” under new legislation set to come into…
Source: SunScotNational - 🏆 49. / 63 Read more »