Dr Ben Barry Jones
@BenBarryJones
Author of 'Island of Strangers: Diversity, Decline and Free Speech in Crisis' | link below
Case Director @SpeechUnion | Agent @MWHamilton
1.9K Following 5K Followers
We’ve never been busier at @SpeechUnion!
Our team is working flat out, every day, to defend your right to speak your mind
If you need any more evidence that an Islamic blasphemy law has taken root in Britain, look no further than the case of Stephen Gray. It is truly one of the most extraordinary cases the FSU has ever come across.
A former police officer who gave 30 years of public service had a knock at the door from the police after his neighbour reported him for reposting something on Facebook.
In April, Stephen was convicted of being “grossly offensive” — an offence under the Communications Act 2003 — for reposting a joke about Islam.
The post featured an image of a rasher of bacon and a man in a turban, accompanied by the text: “Fun facts about bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9 year old!”
While giving evidence, Stephen explained that the post was a reference to the marriage between the Prophet Mohammed and Aisha, which occurred when she was six and was consummated when she was nine. It was a satirical post, but also sought to make a serious point about child marriage.
But the district judge wasn’t having any of it. Stephen was ordered to pay £1,100 in fines, plus legal costs, and now has a criminal conviction.
The Free Speech Union is supporting Stephen in appealing his conviction.
If you are still in any doubt that Britain’s blasphemy laws have returned, 18 years after Parliament voted to abolish them — for Islam alone — take a look at Stephen’s case.
Watch FSU External Affairs Officer @_ConnieShaw explain and donate to the fundraiser 👇
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Sidmouth viewed from the Roman-British fort on High Peak - built once they realised the Saxons weren’t reading the ‘Do not Pillage’ posters the Romans had given them
In any other period a state that allowed an invasion like this would lose all legitimacy and be violently destroyed.
The rules of history can be suspended for only so long.
Two Afghan migrants 'raped and assaulted a 14-year-old girl on a train from Kent to London'
If Hodges accepts that people granted asylum need to be informed that the rape of children, women or vulnerable pensioners is illegal — because some of them allegedly do not already know this — then the policy of reckless dispersal into hotels and HMOs in ordinary villages and towns is indefensible. Residents there do not expect elevated risk of sexual violence simply by sitting on a bench, walking in a park or taking children to the swings.
A government that knowingly places such people, unguarded, among an unsuspecting population shows a treacherous disregard for public safety that borders on the appalling. A journalist who lacks the instinct or curiosity to confront this reality, and instead offers only polite caveats, acts as a stooge for power rather than a critic of it. Neither that government nor that style of journalism deserves recognition or tolerance as genuine government or genuine journalism.
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14-year old rape victims are basically collateral damage to the Great Project of diversity and immigration. These cases are coming to light daily - and remember that rape cases that come to court are typically a small proportion of incidents taking place.
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‘Free speech organisation does everything it can to defend free speech.’
The FT’s shocking exposé about @SpeechUnion…
The @FT is planning to run a story about the fact that we prepared a briefing for JD Vance ahead of Sir Keir Starmer's visit to the White House in February of last year. The Free Speech Union is a campaigning organisation that routinely sends briefings to politicians, particularly those in a position to lobby the UK Government, so we're not sure what the story is here. But we've published that briefing on our website so our members and supporters -- and anyone else who's interested -- can read it for themselves. As far as we're concerned, we were just doing our job.
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🚨🚨 THE FSU IS HIRING!
We’re looking for someone who is intelligent, hard-working and has a good sense of humour to join our case team.
The case team is at the very heart of the FSU. When someone finds themselves a victim of cancellation or silencing, one of our brilliant case officers will be the first person they speak to.
Since the FSU was founded in 2020, we have fought more than 6,500 cases on behalf of our members, who now number over 47,000.
You’ll receive lots of training and support and work as part of a highly collaborative team.
If you want to make a difference and help us defend free speech, please apply below👇
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WHAT PREVENTS THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE PEOPLE?
The hired journalists who shamelessly mislead them.
WHAT CONCLUSION FOLLOWS?
That we should proscribe these writers as the most dangerous foes of our country, & circulate improving literature.
Robespierre (July 1793)
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Come and join the most dedicated group I've ever worked with! The @SpeechUnion is expanding our case team.
We're looking for someone intelligent and hard-working with a good sense of humour who is committed to our goals and helping FSU members.
You'll spend your time helping ordinary members of the public who face punishment for something they've said.
Informal queries about the job are very welcome.
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A hero who stood against all the forces of fanatical iconoclastic philistinism despite it costing him his life. Puts to shame many in the contemporary west who wouldn't make any sacrifice to defend historical truth and heritage, no matter how insignificant
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I am thoroughly enjoying Ben's book.
In it, he ponders the very serious question on what this hyperdiversity means for the jury system.
If a jury consists of 12 peers (distinct from the accused's peer group) that value tribal allegiances over guilt-based determination, wouldn't this undermine the 1st principle of the judiciary?
@BenBarryJones
(I recommend this book to you, @Panagiotou90St )
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This is truly one of the most insane cases the FSU has seen in our six-year history.
A retired police officer who gave 30 years of public service to his community had a knock at the door after his neighbour complained about some posts he had reposted on Facebook.
In April, Stephen was found guilty by a district judge over one of these posts — unsurprisingly, the one about Islam — of sending a “grossly offensive” communication, an offence under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.
The Facebook post featured an image of a rasher of bacon and a man in a turban, accompanied by the text: “Fun facts about bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9 year old!”
While giving evidence, Stephen explained that the post was a reference to the marriage between the Prophet Mohammed and Aisha, which was consummated, according to traditional Islamic sources, when she was nine years old, after he married her when she was six.
But the district judge wasn’t having any of it. Stephen was ordered to pay £1,100 in fines, plus legal costs and now has a criminal conviction.
The Free Speech Union is supporting Stephen in appealing his conviction.
If you are still in any doubt that Britain’s blasphemy laws have returned, 18 years after Parliament voted to abolish them — for Islam alone — take a look at Stephen’s case.
Watch Stephen Gray on @TalkTV with @JuliaHB1 👇
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Free speech in Britain is under attack — by the Government, by activists and by those who wish to silence you because of your views.
Since the FSU was founded in February 2020, we have fought more than 6,300 cases defending our members’ right to free speech.
Since the last general election in 2024, our membership has grown from 14,000 to more than 46,000.
We have lobbied and petitioned successive governments to change laws and amend guidance to ensure our fundamental free speech rights are protected.
The threat to free speech has never been more acute — whether at university, at work or, increasingly, online. We can no longer afford to take this fundamental right for granted.
Take a look at some of our work below and join the FSU 👇
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"We may have to get over our British decorum because the managerial state has weaponised it against us. We're terrified of being seen as impolite. The British state has been prosecuting the same mission since Blair came to power - a new multicultural, high immigration Britain. This is not a failure of governance. It is the system working as intended. They want a post-British, a post-Christian, and a managerial theocracy. And the question is, is will it fall apart? Will we ever be able to get the tides to turn again. Will we become a people and a civilization once studied but no longer exists? And that's the big question." — me on @NewCultureForum
Link to full panel with @missalicegrant @KiszelyPhilip and @BenBarryJones in the comments
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Thank you very much @PeteBritish! The readers have spoken…
‘Island of Strangers: Diversity, Decline and Free Speech in Crisis’ is available from all good book shops
I have started your book today, @BenBarryJones, and I know I’m going to enjoy it even though I’m only a dozen pages in.
It’s shaping up to be a cracker!
"The Romano-British elite of the day in the fifth century invited the same people who came over and created a whole new nation here of England. We're importing lots of people who are certainly much more demographically vital, civilisationally more confident than we are. Like the Romano-British elite of the past, unless they're not careful, we may well see a demographic and cultural wave that will put all of their ideas to bed." - me on @NewCultureForum
Link to the full panel with @KiszelyPhilip @missalicegrant and @BenBarryJones in the comments
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On the future of British universities:
"I don't necessarily expect a violent act of cultural vandalism to take place on behalf of the state or a monarch on the universities but the monasteries didn't close down only for that reason. They also saw their intellectual star wane. They'd become less intellectually vital. They'd also had their financial resources strained because they were prosecuting wars on behalf of the crown. And so their legitimacy was dropping even in the eyes of the communities and the economies that had built up around them. I suppose we could end up visiting the likes of Cambridge in the future as a beautiful ruin as we visit Fountains Abbey". - me on @NewCultureForum will @KiszelyPhilip
Link to full panel (with @BenBarryJones and @missalicegrant) in the comments below.
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We're knocking back attempts to impose an Islamic blasphemy law one case at a time at @SpeechUnion.
Being "offensive" about Islam should not be a criminal matter. This cause could not be more important.
You can help us 👇
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🚨🚨 BREAKING NEWS: Blasphemy law is back — but it only applies to Muslims.
FSU member and retired police officer Stephen Gray was found guilty of being "grossly offensive", a criminal offence under s127 of the Communications Act 2003, for repeating a joke about Mohammed.
Stephen reposted a message he saw on Facebook that said: “Fun facts about bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9 year old!”
While giving evidence, Stephen explained that the post was a reference to the marriage between the Prophet Mohammed and Aisha — which was consummated when she was just nine years old, after he married her when she was six.
Stephen said the post was intended to be satirical but he also hoped it would spark a serious debate: did that marriage, as recorded in the Hadiths, contribute to the acceptability of child marriage in Muslim countries?
District Judge Steven Hood found the post to be “grossly offensive” and dismissed Stephen's defence that it was making a serious political point about the acceptability of child marriage. He found that the post was designed to be offensive and could not be making a serious point because it was light-hearted in nature. He concluded that a conviction would not amount to a disproportionate interference with Stephen’s right to freedom of expression.
The Free Speech Union is helping Stephen appeal his conviction and has instructed a top criminal silk, John Beggs KC, to act for him.
With your support, we hope to be able to pay for Stephen’s legal defence in the Crown Court and meet the costs of any further appeals. Please donate Stephen's crowdfunder in the link below.
Earlier this year, the FSU paid for the defence of Hamit Coskun, who burnt a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish consulate in London. He was initially convicted, but we managed to get that conviction overturned on appeal. When the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) then tried to appeal the acquittal, we took them on and won again.
More recently, the Free Speech Union threatened South Wales Police with legal action after it adopted a draconian version of the Government’s definition of anti-Muslim hostility, instructing officers to record any comment that went beyond “legitimate” discussion of Islam as a 'non-crime hate incident'. We won, and the force withdrew the guidance.
Stephen’s case gives us another opportunity to reaffirm the principle that there is nothing illegal about criticising any religion, including Islam.
It should not be a criminal offence to repost jokes about Islam that some Muslims find offensive.
Read more below and please donate to our Crowdfunder 👇
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Busy morning at @SpeechUnion - we've had seven new requests for help from members yesterday alone, all in trouble for something they've said.
All will be triaged and responded to by midday.
That's in addition to the nearly 300 cases open on our books right now.
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