Simon Hickey, the owner of Brisbane-based electrical outfit Smerff Electrical, has reportedly been jailed for nine months for not removing his websites, as ordered by the court. The websites supposedly contained Pepe the frog memes and so he was held in contempt.
The news comes from the Daily Stormer, who received a letter from Hickey – which was originally written back in September – where he outlined what was happening with his case. According to the letter that the Dailly Stormer shared, Hickey wrote…
“Today 19 September I went to Supreme Court, charged with “contempt of court” for failing to remove my websites (which are now hosted elsewhere). The Judge gave me 9 (nine) months jail. I shit you not.
“I dunno whether that means 9 serve 9 or 9 serve 3 then parole but I’m still pissed off. I got one more court tomorrow that will finish my outstanding so I’ll have more accurate info then.
“I’m still charged with my private conversation that may have offended someone but didn’t, that’s in October 26. I think maybe 25 Oct. Brisbane magistrate court. This shit is insane.
”The court today would not accept that every statement I made in regards to the court conduct was true, in the public interests and therefore not subject to prosecution.
“I said at one stage that the conduct of the courts up to now was worthy of contempt. That didn’t help. LOL
“I will not let this minor setback deter me. I will never tire. Never slacken. Never give up.”
It’s not clear if the “private conversation” Hickey is referring to is related to when the court ordered him to pay $11,400 to a former underling who accused him of allegedly sending “inexcusable” text messages, as reported by Smart Company, or if that’s another case.
The thing is, Hickey has been targeted by the courts for some time now. As linked in the thread over on KotakuInAction 2, there’s an archive of a page over on Beenleigh Magistrates Court, where there’s a chronological timeline of events involving Hickey and the courts dating back to 2010.
Daily Stormer notes that they’re trying to confirm the court’s rule that Hickey has been ordered to nine months in jail, but it’s difficult since there’s a media blackout on the ruling.
Some of the information regarding his case was supposed to be available on his website, but if you attempt to visit Smerff Electrical’s website it’s down as of the writing of this article.
Earlier in the year the media did report on Hickey, with Slackbastard noting that the courts were not kind to Hickey and that in July of 2019 he was reportedly “closing up shop”. Whether or not that’s part of what led to his nine months in jail is unknown at this time.
Hickey was not depicted favorably in the media after openly supporting the Daily Stormer and for being a white nationalist, which earned him the ire from places like the Daily Mail, where they reported that Hickey was fond of using the Daily Stormer to promote his business, Smerff Electrical.
Regardless of what you think of Hickey or the Daily Stormer, if it’s true that Hickey was jailed for not removing his websites featuring Pepe memes, then it sets a dangerous precedent going forward where courts can have content removed from the web or the owners thrown in jail for not complying, even if they don’t break any laws.
Earlier this year several people were arrested and jailed for making memes of the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand.
Expect the Centrists™ to justify or defend why this next step in censorship is okay or warranted while more of your freedoms are stripped and taken away.
(Thanks for the news tip KotakuInAction 2)
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