“I’ve taken legal advice with the help of the FSU, who’ve been extremely helpful.” It was great to hear Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser on BBC Radio Scotland this morning discussing the country’s draconian new Hate Crime Act, and his legal battle with Police Scotland after a non-crime hate incident (NCHI) was logged against his name following a tweet he posted criticising the Scottish government’s transgender policy.
Mr Fraser called in the FSU to back a legal challenge on the basis that Police Scotland has “adopted a cavalier and disrespectful attitude towards me and my rights to freedom of expression and privacy, and the right to be informed of false and damaging information held on police records”.
In his letter to Police Scotland, Mr Fraser requests that the force make changes to its operational guidance so that it conforms with UK law and international human rights law, and that it permanently delete its record of the ‘hate incident’ relating to him.
The force has until 5th April to respond, or we will help Mr Fraser seek a judicial review and/or initiate a civil claim.
We expect to see tens of thousands of NCHIs being recorded against Scots who, like Murdo, dissent from fashionable orthodoxy.
That might sound far-fetched, but the country’s national police force has made clear that its officers will investigate every single complaint made under the new law, and even if an incident doesn’t meet the criminality threshold (i.e., that the legal fiction of the ‘reasonable person’ would consider the perpetrator’s speech to be threatening or abusive), it will nevertheless still be logged as an NCHI.
Why? Because the defining factor there is only ever the complainant’s perception of what happened, even when there isn’t a shred of evidence to support the claim that the accused was motivated by hostility towards one or more protected characteristic.
In the first 48 hours following activation of the country’s new Hate Crime Act, 3,000 ‘hate incident’ complaints were made to Police Scotland.
As if to aid in the weaponisation of this investigatory process by activists, Police Scotland has even created 411 ‘third party reporting centres’ around the country where ‘hate crimes’ can be reported anonymously.
This nascent culture of snitching on one’s fellow citizens risks having a detrimental effect on people’s careers – for instance, an NCHI can show up on an enhanced criminal record check and may prevent you getting a job as a teacher or a carer, or being allowed to work for charities.
If you’re concerned about the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, and the number of innocent Scots likely to be get entangled in its net, please do consider donating to our newly established Scottish Fighting Fund. You can do so below.
Any money generated by this fundraiser between now and 31st March 2025 that we don’t spend on Murdo Fraser’s case will be spent on fighting cases related specifically to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act.
To provide FSU members with as much peace of mind as we can, we have an arrangement in place with a top firm of criminal lawyers in Scotland so we can assign a solicitor to FSU members who are arrested or questioned under caution because they’re suspected of committing a speech-related ‘hate crime’ (as defined in the new law), although whether we help them in this way, and whether we continue to help them after the first police interview, will be discretionary.
Another benefit of joining the FSU is we can help you get NCHIs deleted from your record, as we just did with Conservative MP Rachel Maclean, who had an NCHI recorded against her after tweeting about the Green Party candidate in her constituency, a trans woman (on which more in a moment).
We will also be publishing an FAQs on what to do if you are contacted by Police Scotland, having been reported for a ‘hate crime’, shortly.
Any money left over in the fundraiser after 12 months will be transferred to our general funds.
In light of this new threat to free speech, we hope FSU supporters will consider becoming members by clicking the button below, particularly if they’re resident in Scotland.
