Actually, if it’s England, I guess we’re talking about gaol.
Two British men have been sentenced to four years in prison each for inciting riots through Facebook.
From CBS News:
Late Tuesday, two men in northwestern England were handed stiff jail terms for inciting disorder through social networking sites. Cheshire Police said Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, both received 4-year sentences for using Facebook to “organize and orchestrate” disorder.
Blackshaw used the social networking site to create an event — with a date, time and location — for “massive Northwich lootin.”‘
Sutcliffe created a page on Facebook called “Warrington Riots” which listed a time and date for anyone who wished to be involved in a riot.
Blackshaw’s sentencing was unrelated to replacing the g with an apostrophe in the word “looting”.
Wait, this is for the riots that happened last week? And they already tried and convicted these guys? Yeah, the system moves fast in England.
Over in Egypt, an activist was jailed for Twitter remarks. She’s free on bail, but still has to appear before a military tribunal. Amnesty International is calling for Egyptian officials to drop the case. The two tweets that caused trouble: “If the justice system does not give us our rights, nobody should be upset if armed groups emerge and carry out assassinations.”
and
“As long as there is no law there is no justice, anything can happen and nobody should be upset.”
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
