Norwood v. U.K.

During my research of how other countries deal with speech and regulating speech, I came across this case from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Mr. Norwood, a member of Parliament ironically, posted a sign in a window of his home with a picture of the twin towers burning with the words "Islam out of Britain - Protect the British People" along with a symbol of a crescent and star in a prohibition sign.  A member of the public complained about the large poster in the window of Mr. Norwood's first floor flat and police removed it.  Mr. Norwood was invited to go to the local police station for an interview after the removal but refused.

Mr. Norwood was then charged with "an aggravated offense under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, of displaying, with hostility towards a racial or religious group, any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, within the sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress by it."

Norwood then applied to the ECHR under Article 10 of the Convention (it doesn't say which convention specifically) claiming that the criminal proceedings against him violated his right to freedom of expression and under Article 14 claiming discrimination.  In the end, the ECHR found that Norwood's rights were not violated and declared his application inadmissible.

Part of me agrees with section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and the speech regulations it imposes.  Having lived in the United Kingdom both as a child and an adult, there is something to be said about how Brits handle themselves and what they will and will not tolerate.  In fact when Westboro tried to bring their protests to Britain, they were banned from doing so under English law; Great Britain was not going to tolerate such blatant hateful rubbish on their soil.  Yet the American in me is leery of such speech regulation because it requires the government and the courts to be fair and unbiased in it's application, something I don't trust either to do evenhandedly.