Since 2014, the Icelandic police have received 20 complaints for hate speech. 14 charges have been issued, 5 cases have been dropped and in one case the investigation was stopped, RÚV reports.
The news became known after the Minister of Justice answered the question of Lenya Rún Taha Karim, an Icelandic politician and a member of the Pirate Party. Lenya, who is the first Kurd in the Icelandic parliament, announced in an interview for Kjarninn last month that she had considered withdrawing from the parliament to personal attacks. These news was taken from an interview with Kjarninn which was later due to racism and hate speech directed at her after its publication.
Almost half of all complaints (9 out of 20) were received by the police in 2015. Most of them can be traced back to a discussion on the radio station Útvarp Saga about queer education in Hafnarfjörður’s primary schools. Out of 20 complaints, seven charges were issued. Six were acquitted and one was convicted in the district court and two of the cases went to the Supreme Court.
No complaints have been received regarding hate speech in 2022 and one was received last year, but that case was dropped. The complaints revolved around ethnicity, race, or religion.
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