Fallaci Trial

With regard to the advice of an Italian preliminary judge that Oriana Fallaci should stand trial in her native Italy on charges that she defamed Islam in her book La Forza della Ragione, it needs to be noted that there is a difference of opinion between the Italian judiciary and the Italian Ministry of Justice:

Justice Minister Roberto Castelli, who has a prickly relationship with the Italian judiciary, said the ruling represented an attack on freedom of expression.

"In Europe we are seeing the birth of a movement that is looking to silence those who don't follow a single mindset, within which it is forbidden to speak ill of Islam, of homosexuals or of the children of homosexuals," Castelli was quoted as saying in an interview with Radio Padania.

"In Fallaci's book there is very strong criticism but not defamation," Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying. (Reuters)