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Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff

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Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff
Sabaditsch-Wolff in 2017
Born1971 (age 52–53)
NationalityAustrian
OccupationCounter-jihad activist
Known forE.S. v. Austria
Websitetruthwasmycrime.com

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff (born 1971)[1] is an Austrian counter-jihad activist,[2][3][4] and human rights and free speech advocate.[4][5][6] She was the applicant of the hate speech appeal E.S. v. Austria, brought before the European Court of Human Rights, after having been convicted of "disparaging religious doctrines".[1] Before she became involved in the counter-jihad movement, she held positions at the Austrian embassies in Kuwait and Libya, and in the Austrian ministry of foreign affairs.[2]

Biography

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Background

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The daughter of an Austrian diplomat, she says her interest in Islam came after "having been exposed to Islam from early childhood" and being "confronted with life under the Sharia".[2] She spent much of her life in Muslim countries, first in Iran until the Islamic Revolution in 1979.[7] Her family thereafter returned to Austria, before moving to Chicago, where she completed most of her schooling. She worked for the Austrian embassy in Kuwait at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.[7] She moved back to Austria, before again moving to Kuwait, and later went to work in Libya in 2000.[7] She returned to Austria in 2001 after the September 11 attacks, and had earned a master's degree in diplomatic and strategic studies by 2006.[6] She was approached by the Freedom Party of Austria in 2007 to develop a seminar on Islam, which she taught for two years.[6]

Hate speech case

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Main article: E.S. v. Austria (2018)

In 2009, an undercover journalist from NEWS magazine infiltrated one of her seminars and recorded it, which led to her being charged with hate speech.[6][8] She was convicted by a Viennese court for "disparaging religious doctrines" in 2011, due to having described the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a pedophile.[9][10][11] The verdict was seconded by the Supreme Court of Austria in 2014.[1][12] She appealed the conviction to the European Court of Human Rights, which in 2018 ruled her speech to not be covered by freedom of speech,[2][13][14] although she had made the assertion based on the Islamic texts describing Muhammad's consummation of his marriage with his 9-year-old wife Aisha when he was 54 years old.[8] According to Bruce Bawer, a search for mentions about the case on the internet, described by William Kilpatrick as a "pivotal event in modern European jurisprudence" that "placed the principles of sharia above the right to freedom of expression", failed to find a single mention of the original appeals verdict in any newspaper in the Western world.[15] The case was covered by US-based online outlets such as FrontPage Magazine, Jihad Watch, the Center for Security Policy and Gatestone Institute,[2] and made her a cause célèbre in the counter-jihad movement.[3]

Other activities

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Sabaditsch-Wolff has been active in the Citizens' Movement Pax Europa, the International Civil Liberties Alliance,[16] the Viennese Association of Academics and ACT for America.[2] In this capacity she has been part of a delegation that has worked to "counter Islam" at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).[2] She participated in all of the annual international counter-jihad conferences held from 2007 to 2013,[16][17][18] and has been featured extensively on the counter-jihad blog Gates of Vienna under the section "Elisabeth's Voice".[2]

Sabaditsch-Wolff being interviewed alongside cartoonist Bosch Fawstin in 2017

She has received support in conservative circles in the United States, and appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in a panel organized by the American Freedom Defense Initiative in 2010.[2][19] In 2010, she was also part of a Freedom Party of Austria delegation led by Heinz-Christian Strache that visited Israel,[20] and she spoke in Israel alongside Geert Wilders at the invitation of former MK Eliezer Cohen.[21] In 2011, she posed for photographs together with Donald Trump and Frank Gaffney at the launch of the United West in Florida.[2] After her conviction in 2014, Republican Representatives Louie Gohmert and Michele Bachmann travelled to Austria with a U.S. Congressional delegation to give their support to Sabaditsch-Wolff.[22][23] She was herself invited to meet with Kansas Secretary of State and Trump advisor Kris Kobach in 2017,[24] and spoke at a pro-Trump rally in Denver, Colorado the same year.[2] In 2016, she was knighted by the Knights of Malta.[2] She has been interviewed regarding her legal case by Jeanine Pirro, and collaborated with Katie Hopkins under the "Katie and The Wolff" venue.[2]

In 2019, she published her book The Truth is No Defense, a memoir about her legal case and her life in Muslim countries.[25][26] The book included "expert analyses" by Robert Spencer, Clare M. Lopez, Stephen Coughlin, Christian Zeitz, Henrik R. Clausen and Christine Brim.[27] An updated and revised version of the book, titled Truth Was My Crime: A Life Fighting for Freedom was published in 2023.[6]

Bibliography

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  • The Truth Is No Defense. New English Review Press. 2019. ISBN 9781943003303.
  • Truth Was My Crime: A Life Fighting for Freedom. Amazon. 2023. ISBN 9798854860260.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Pokorny, Lukas (2020). Religion in Austria: An Annotated Bibliography of 2020 Scholarship (PDF). University of Vienna. pp. 302, 308.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Factsheet: Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff". Bridge Initiative. Georgetown University. 3 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b Jones, Elvyn (6 March 2017). "Austrian convicted of hate speech relating to Muslims to address Douglas County GOP; demonstration planned". Lawrence Journal-World. Sabaditsch-Wolff became a cause celebre among Europe's right-wing "Counter Jihad movement" when she ran afoul of Austrian law while expressing her opinions on Islam and Muslims.
  4. ^ a b "Prayer march for persecuted Christians at Lake Eola". Heritage Florida Jewish News. 2 May 2014. Austrian human rights advocate and counter-jihadist Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff will be coming to Orlando to participate in a march against Christian persecution on May 17 at Lake Eola Park.
  5. ^ "Sabaditsch-Wolff brings controversy to Bismarck". The Bismarck Tribune. 2 December 2017. Sabaditsch-Wolff, an Austrian human rights and anti-sharia activist, will focus on speaking about protecting the freedom of speech and the on-going migrant situation in Europe.
  6. ^ a b c d e Stern, Marilyn (6 November 2023). "Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff: When Speech Ceases to be Free". Middle East Forum.
  7. ^ a b c Morrison, Sarah (26 February 2010). "Activist takes on radical Islam: Sabaditsch-Wolff: 'It remains to be seen whether the truth is a defense'". The Jewish State. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010.
  8. ^ a b Kolig, Erich (2016). Freedom of Speech and Islam. Routledge. pp. 103–104. ISBN 9781317132813.
  9. ^ "Beraterin der FPÖ droht Haft". OE24 (in German). 20 December 2011.
  10. ^ "Urteil gegen Sabaditsch-Wolff hält: Herabwürdigung religiöser Lehren: OLG bestätigt Urteil erster Instanz". News.at (in German). 20 December 2011. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014.
  11. ^ "OLG bestätigte Urteil gegen Sabaditsch-Wolff". noen.at (in German). 20 December 2011.
  12. ^ "Sabaditsch-Wolff blitzte auch bei OGH ab". Der Standard (in German). APA. 8 January 2014.
  13. ^ Cliteur, Paul; Ellian, Afshin (2020). "The Five Models for State and Religion: Atheism, Theocracy, State Church, Multiculturalism, and Secularism". ICL Journal. 14 (1): 128–132. doi:10.1515/icl-2018-0056. hdl:1887/3141538.
  14. ^ Puppinck, Grégor (2020). "The censorship of speech about Islam before the European Court of Human Rights: the appalling case of ES v. Austria". Christianity World Politics. 24. doi:10.21697/CSP.2020.24.1.22. S2CID 234708682.
  15. ^ Kilpatrick, William (2012). Christianity, Islam, and Atheism: The Struggle for the Soul of the West. Ignatius. p. 234. ISBN 9781586176969.
  16. ^ a b "International counter-jihad organisations". Hope not hate. 11 January 2018. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024.
  17. ^ Hannus, Martha (2012). Counterjihadrörelsen– en del av den antimuslimska miljön (in Swedish). Expo Research. pp. 67–76. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022.
  18. ^ Lazaridis, Gabriella; Campani, Giovanna (2016). Understanding the Populist Shift: Othering in a Europe in Crisis. Taylor & Francis. pp. 86–92. ISBN 9781317326069.
  19. ^ Wilkie, Christina (19 December 2013). "Tea Party Lawmakers Take Secret Trip To Libya, Israel, Egypt". The Huffington Post.
  20. ^ Wäckerlig, Oliver (2019). Vernetzte Islamfeindlichkeit: Die transatlantische Bewegung gegen »Islamisierung«. Events - Organisationen - Medien (in German). transcript Verlag. p. 68. doi:10.1515/9783839449738. ISBN 9783839449738.
  21. ^ "Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff Speaks Up for Israel". The Jewish Chronicle. 10 December 2010.
  22. ^ "Factsheet: Louie Gohmert". Bridge Initiative. Georgetown University. 16 July 2010.
  23. ^ Gais, Hannah (11 March 2020). "Was Steve King Persona Non Grata at CPAC 2020 – Or Not?". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  24. ^ "Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, Convicted of Hate Speech Against Muslims, Meets with Trump Advisor Kris Kobach". Southern Poverty Law Center. 9 March 2017.
  25. ^ Kern, Soeren (2020). "Review of The Truth Is No Defense". Middle East Quarterly. 27 (3).
  26. ^ ""The Truth is No Defense" – interview with Austrian Free Speech Advocate Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff – Beyond the Matrix [audio]". Israel News Talk Radio. 5 November 2020.
  27. ^ "Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff discusses her new book, "The Truth Is No Defense"". Center for Security Policy. 14 November 2019.
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