According to a media release by Catch the Fire Ministries (CTFM), even though the ruling meant the case would be sent back to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), it was a victory for freedom of speech in Australia.
”In a sense we are happy with this decision to go back to VCAT. It means this case will be kept alive in the public consciousness. There’s a need to keep these vilification laws in sharp focus to reveal the problems this law is creating,” said Pastor Nalliah.
As a result of a complaint filed by The Islamic Council of Victoria, the pastors were the first found guilty of religious vilification under the Victorian Religious and Racial Tolerance Act which took effect at the start of 2002. The complaint said that Scot and Nalliah had “vilified Muslims” at a seminar on jihad on March 9, 2002. The pastors were lecturing on the differences between Christianity and Islam, and quoted information about Islam directly from the Koran.
“The ramifications of this bad law mean that this case has caused enormous stress for all concerned and increased division in the community,” Nalliah added. After his conviction Nalliah refused to apologize and said that he would rather go to jail. “Right from the inception, we have said that this law is a foul law, this law is not a law that brings unity. It causes disunity and as far as we are concerned right from the beginning we have stated that we will not apologize. We will go to prison for standing for the truth and not sacrifice our freedom and freedom to speak,” he said.
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