Liberty Minute January 15 2013

In overtly Communist countries like China and North Korea, it is commonplace to see people imprisoned for speaking or writing in opposition to the ruling elite. Similar conditions exist in the State of Alabama, where the ruling Republican establishment has arranged the indefinite imprisonment ? without a criminal conviction ? of a blogger whose writings offended them.

Roger Shuler, who maintains a blog called Legal Schnauzer, has been sued by the family of Robert Riley, Jr., the son of the state?s former Republican Governor. Shuler claimed that Riley had engaged in an affair with a lobbyist that ended in an abortion. In a sealed decision, a state judge imposed an injunction against Shuler forbidding him to write about Riley and ordering him to remove previously published material. Commendably, Shuler refused to comply ? and was arrested on a charge of criminal contempt. He is now in a state prison, where he will remain until he complies with the judge?s patently unconstitutional order.

Libel is a civil matter, not a criminal one, and the accusation against Shuler has not been proven in court. But such principles matter little to the pious totalitarians responsible for the Soviet-grade persecution of a troublesome blogger in Alabama.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.