European Court Upholds Conviction for ’Jihad’ T-Shirt Given to Child

The facts date back to September 25, 2012. A three-year-old boy had gone to the nursery school with a t-shirt that his mother and uncle had given him, reports AFP. The only problem: this t-shirt bore the inscriptions: "I am a bomb" and "Jihad, born on September 11". The management had immediately reported this to the education inspectorate and the mayor of the town of Sorgues. The latter had seized the public prosecutor.

In front of the Avignon Criminal Court, the mother and uncle of the child had benefited from an acquittal, but they will be convicted by the Nîmes Court of Appeal. The first received one month in prison with probation and a fine of 2,000 euros, the second, two months in prison with probation and a fine of 4,000 euros. Unlike the boy’s mother, the uncle had appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

"Before the national courts and before the European Court, the applicant argued that the disputed inscriptions were humorous in nature," notes the judicial arm of the Council of Europe, recalling that "humorous speech or forms of expression that cultivate humor are protected by Article 10 of the Convention" European Convention on Human Rights. "They do not escape the limits defined by the article, the judges ruled.

"Indeed, the right to humor does not allow everything and anyone who claims freedom of expression assumes duties and responsibilities," the ECHR added. In the eyes of the court, the fact that the applicant has no connection with any terrorist movement "cannot mitigate the scope of the disputed message". It also regrets "the instrumentalization of a three-year-old child, an involuntary bearer of the disputed message."