Video: Lars Hedegaard speaks at the Danish parliament

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Update: The complete spoken text is now appended below the video.

On Thursday 21st of February, Lars Hedegaard made his first public appearance after an unknown gunman had tried to end his life prematurely a bit over two weeks ago. The meeting had been planned in advance, but the shooting caused not only security measures to go through the roof, it also made the organizers change the topic to be on the implication of shooting at newspaper editors and free speech advocates, top politicians were invited (and accepted) to speak, and caused the event was sold out in no time, even though it was relocated to a larger hall.

Also Danish mainstream media covered the event more extensively than anything else done by the Danish Free Press Society. The secondary channel TV2 broadcast the whole event live on their TV2 News channel, and the regular news broadcasts had high-profile reporting as well.

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The Assassin at the Door

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From The Wall Street Journal:
A Danish free-speech advocate on the day a gunman disguised as a postal worker tried to kill him.

By LARS HEDEGAARD

Copenhagen A police psychologist has told me that after an attempt on your life, things may appear somewhat fuzzy. After a while details of what happened may all of a sudden become clear as you remember more and more of this most distressing occurrence.

That hasn’t been my experience. What took place on Tuesday, Feb. 5, is as clear and vivid to me now as it was seconds after it happened.

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Lars Hedegaard Sues Swedish Media for Libel

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By Maria Celander, from Dispatch International

Expert on free expression: ”Nothing but an outright lie”

The February 5th assassination attempt on Lars Hedegaard, editor-in-chief of Dispatch International, was reported all over the world. There was a remarkable difference, however, between the way in which the Swedish media and international media handled the news. While international media systematically called Hedegaard “an Islam-critic”, or even “prominent Islam-critic”, Swedish media chose just as systematically to use the loaded term “enemy of Islam”.

Several Swedish newspapers also chose to publish various versions of the story from Swedish national news agency TT, which contained this wording:

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Bruce Bawer: “A Culture of Cowards”

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This isn’t going to be about Iceland, or about online porn, but there’s a reason nonetheless to start with the news that Iceland’s government – apparently satisfied that it’s safely pulled out of its financial crisis – has turned its attention to a feminist proposal to block online porn using the same technology that China uses to limit its own subjects’ Internet access. This is not good news – for a couple of reasons.

The first, and more frivolous, reason is as follows. I’ve been to Iceland. It’s an interesting place to visit – fascinating, actually – but you wouldn’t want to live there. No, honest – you really, really wouldn’t want to live there. I’m not saying it’s awful in the same way as, oh, Tanzania, where albinos are poached like animals because it’s believed that if you cut off one of their body parts it can bring you power and riches. Or Angola, where the police, if you can call them that, look away from the widespread violence against suspected witches (some of them mere children) because they’re scared of having a spell cast against them. No, Iceland is tough going in a different way.

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Islam critic Lars Hedegaard dodges assassin’s bullet

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From Islamist Watch:

Journalist Lars Hedegaard — a critic of Islam, defender of free speech, and associate fellow at the Middle East Forum — survived a murder attempt in Copenhagen on February 5. “Hedegaard, 70, said the gunman rang the doorbell of his apartment building on the pretext of delivering a package, and when Hedegaard opened the front door, the man pulled out a gun and fired a shot that narrowly missed the writer’s head,” the Associated Press reports. Hedegaard fought back, causing the assailant — described as “foreign” in appearance — to lose the gun and flee. In their post-attack coverage, Danish media have disparaged and blamed the victim.

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Andrew G. Bostom: Lars Hedegaard and the Enemies of Truthfulness

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Last week I noted how Michael Coren of Canada’s Sun TV was far bolder than any of his US television network colleagues in dealing with Islam’s threat to Western free speech, epitomized by Coren’s interview of Danish journalist and historian Lars Hedegaard, who survived an assassination attempt by a likely Muslim assailant, still at large. No such interview with public airing on television was conducted by any major US television network-ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN-not even the self-proclaimed “alternative” to “stultifying political correctness,”  and “champion” of free speech, The Blaze TV.

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Video: Lars Hedegaard on Sun TV about media reactions

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Lars Hedegaard in a new interview with Michael Coren. In this interview, Lars Hedegaard reflects on the media reaction on the attempt to kill him – Swedish media largely blaming Lars Hedegaard for having brought this on himself, falsely stating that Lars Hedegaard was convicted for ‘racism’, and international media by ignoring the problem entirely.

Video below the break:
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Douglas Murray: ‘I may be killed if I write this’

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Lars Hedegaard had a close encounter with a fake postman.

Lars Hedegaard recently had a close encounter with a fake postman.

The assassin came to his home dressed as a postman. When the historian and journalist Lars Hedegaard opened his front door, the man — whom Lars describes as ‘looking like a typical Muslim immigrant’ in his mid-twenties — fired straight at his head. Though Hedegaard was a yard away, the bullet narrowly missed. The mild-mannered scholar (70 years old) then punched his assailant in the head. The man dropped the gun, picked it up and fired again. The gun jammed and the man ran off. More than a week later, he has yet to be found.

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Lars Hedegaard Sues Swedish Media for Libel

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By Maria Celander

Expert on free expression: ”Nothing but an outright lie”

Lars Hedegaard and the strange headlines after his attempted assassination

Lars Hedegaard and some headlines after his attempted assassination

The February 5th assassination attempt on Lars Hedegaard, editor-in-chief of Dispatch International, was reported all over the world. There was a remarkable difference, however, between the way in which the Swedish media and international media handled the news. While international media systematically called Hedegaard “an Islam-critic”, or even “prominent Islam-critic”, Swedish media chose just as systematically to use the loaded term “enemy of Islam”.

Continue reading →