A controversial conservative commentator was unrepentent going into a Human Rights and Citizenship Commission hearing Friday, using his Web site to republish the same cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that got him into trouble in the first place.
"Contriteness implies that you've done something wrong for which you need to apologize or atone," Ezra Levant said moments before his 90-minute meeting with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission in Calgary.
"I have not done anything wrong."
Mr. Levant's dispute with some members of Alberta's Muslim community became even more personal, as the head of a Calgary Muslim group said he now fears for the safety of his family due to "lies" Mr. Levant has been spreading about him.
The commission is investigating Mr. Levant's decision two years ago, as publisher of the Western Standard, to print a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The same cartoons had already ignited violent protests and death threats from Muslims around the world after the images appeared in a Danish newspaper.
Syed Soharwardy, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, filed a complaint after the Western Standard published the cartoons, which included a Muslim man with a bomb-shaped turban, and the commission is now investigating.
This is an important lawfare case. Videos of the interrogation can be found at Levant's website in the recent entries. No waterboarding occurred. |