There exists a popular claim that upon posting 'questionable' material online, citizens are liable for arrest only in 'backward' countries that suppress the freedom of speech and not in the First World.

This is probably due to misinformation or a sketchy understanding of the conditions and realities of freedom of expression in many First World countries.

There are numerous incidents where citizens from First World countries are summoned by law enforcement agencies or locked up for exercising their rights to 'freedom of expression' on the Internet.

Presented here are 6 cases where citizens in the US, UK or France were arrested for what they have said online.

1: Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, 49

In January 2015, provocative French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala was arrested for posting the following statement on Facebook:

Tonight, as far as I'm concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly

The name "Charlie Coulibaly" was coined in reference to French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and Amedy Coulibaly, a terrorist who gunned down four Jews at a French supermarket and a policewoman.

Dieudonné was charged with condoning terrorism. Despite the 49 year-old's insistence that he "condemned the attacks without any restraint and without any ambiguity", Dieudonné was found guilty and handed a two-month suspended jail-term.

2: Garron Helm, 21

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In August 2014, 21 year-old Liverpudlian Garron Helm tweeted a picture of Labour MP Luciana Berger with a Holocaust yellow star on her forehead. The picture was accompanied by the hashtag "#HitlerWasRight".

Helm's anti-Semitic tweet earned him a 4-week jail term.

Shortly after his release, Helm insisted that he was "not sorry in the slightest". The defiant teen also boasted that:

 we have the first amendment on our side, so we will always win no matter what.

First Amendment in the UK?

3: Justin Carter, 18

In February 2013, Justin Carter landed himself in hot soup after an argument on Facebook over online video game "League of Legends".

During the exchange, the Texas teenager made the following proclamation:

Carter's comments came two months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting incident. A week later, the 18 year-old was indicted for making a "terroristic threat". Carter subsequently spent more than 4 months in a county jail.

It is also worth mentioning that the boy was at one point served a plea bargain with an eight-year sentence...

4: Jake Newsome, 21

In April 2012, 61 year-old British teacher Ann Maguire was murdered in cold-blood by her student. The incident shook the nation and many were aggrieved by her tragic demise.

Not 21 year-old Jake Newsome though, who posted the following 'insensitive' comment on his Facebook wall:  

Personally im glad that teacher got stabbed up, feel sorry for the kid… he shoulda pissed on her too

A couple of days later, Newsome was arrested and charged under the 2003 Communications Act. Concisely, Newsome was prosecuted for sending "by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing nature".

Newsome pleaded guilty and was jailed for 6 weeks.

5: Cameron D'Ambrosio, 18

In May 2013, Cameron D'Ambrosio, was arrested for posting the following rap lyrics on his Facebook wall:

The aspiring rapper from Massachusetts was charged with "communicating terroristic threats", which carried a penalty of up to 20 years in jail. Bail was reportedly set a US$1 million.

Fortunately for D'Ambrosio, the jury decided against indicting him. However, the 18 year-old had already spent one month behind bars.

 6: Matthew Woods, 19

In October 2012, British teenager Matthew Woods was sentenced to a 84-day jail term for his "abhorrent" comments about missing children Madeleine McCann and April Jones.

Woods, who claimed that he was drunk at the point of posting the comments, had apparently cracked "jokes" such as:

I woke up this morning in the back of a transit van with two beautiful little girls, I found April in a hopeless place.

Bill Hudson, chairman of the bench at Chorley magistrates court which passed the sentence, issued the following statement:

The reason for the sentence is the seriousness of the offence, the public outrage that has been caused and we felt there was no other sentence this court could have passed which conveys to you the abhorrence that many in society feel this crime should receive.

Top image from here.

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