Court Convicts 11 People For Harassing French Teenager Over Anti-Islam Videos

On Wednesday, a Paris court found 11 people guilty of harassing a teenager online for her anti-Islam videos.

Mila, the girl, was forced to change schools and receive 24-hour police protection after receiving death threats in over 100,000 hateful notes.

Eleven of the thirteen defendants were given suspended prison terms of four to six months. The defendants will not serve time in jail unless they are convicted for other offences, and faced fines of A French court has convicted 11 of the 13 people charged with harassing and threatening a teenager over her anti-Islam online videos.$1,770 each.

"Social networks are like the street," magistrate Michael Humbert said per Al Jazeera as he handed down his sentences.

"When you cross someone in the street, you don't insult, mock or threaten them."

"What you don't do in the street, you don't do on social media," he added.

According to the court, one of the defendants wrote that Mila deserved to have her neck chopped. Some made sexual assault threats.

Others claimed they didn't think before sending what they imagined were anonymous insults.

Lauren G, a 21-year-old language student, said she was weary of seeing Mila's name in her news stream all the time.

Another, 19-year-old Axel G, claimed he was enraged because Mila's comments regarding Islam were racist and insulting to him.

The case sparked a debate about religious insults and free speech.

Mila has been a contentious figure in France after her anti-Islam rants in 2020. Her supporters hail her as a fearless defender of free expression. Critics accuse her of being intentionally offensive and Islamophobic.

"We won and we will win again," said the 18-year-old outside the court on Wednesday per WIONews. "I want us to never again make the victims feel guilty."

Due to the combination of cyberharassment, the right to blaspheme, and views toward religious minorities, the court hearings gained extensive media attention.

Then 16 and openly lesbian, Mila responded to personal harassment from a kid who she claims assaulted her about her sexuality "in the name of Allah" in a first video released on Instagram in January 2020.

She went on an expletive-laced rant about Islam, as well as other graphic remarks about Allah. In November 2020, she released a sequel.

Hate speech rules in France make it illegal to encourage hatred against a group of people based on their religion or race. Still, they don't stop people from criticizing or insulting religious views.