Trinity College Dublin ought to be a bastion of free speech and debate

When Maryam Namazie, a world renowned Iranian human rights activist cancelled her proposed lecture on “Apostasy and the rise of Islamism”, to the Society for International Affairs (SoFIA) in Trinity College Dublin, on Monday, March 23, she explained that Trinity security officials decided her address was “one sided” and antagonistic to “Muslim students”. 

She was told it could only proceed if a moderator oversaw the lecture, this is not the normal format so Namazie refused fearing she would effectively be censored.

In marked contrast Trinity’s Muslim Student Association hosted Kamel El Mekki “who advocates the death penalty for apostasy” last month without any so-called oversight.