Finland Convicts City Council Member for Anti-Islam Blog Posting

A trial court in Helsinki, Finland has convicted Jussi Halla-aho, a member of Helsinki's City Council, of violating the sanctity of religion through an anti-Islamic posting on his blog last June. Today's Helsingin Sanomat reports that the court fined Halla-aho 330 Euros. The posting at issue claimed that Islam sanctifies pedophilia and that the Prophet Muhammad was a pedophile because he had an underage wife. The court however acquitted Halla-aho of another charge of incitement against an ethnic group, finding that an anti-Somali posting was an attempt at satire. Halla-aho-- who commented on his sentence and repeated his statements on an Internet bulletin board-- plans to appeal.