Savage to address free-speech conference

Michael Savage (San Francisco Chronicle)

Talk radio star Michael Savage will be the keynote speaker at a conference in Washington this month on global threats to freedom of speech and religion.

The International Legal Conference on Freedom of Speech and Religion will convene Oct. 27 and 28 in the U.S. Congressional Auditorium in the nation's capitol.

The event is sponsored by the International Free Press Society, the Liberty Legal Project International and the Center for Security Policy.

The conference will survey freedom of speech and religion under the laws of the U.S., the European Union, international conventions and Shariah, or Islamic law. Panel topics will include hate speech and hate crimes laws, blasphemy laws, bloggers' rights, e-speech, outsourcing of censorship to private companies and children's rights to freedom of speech and belief.

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As WND reported, Savage also has been invited to participate in a debate at the Cambridge Union Society in England this month.

The society says it has been following developments with Savage's battle with the British government over its ban on his entry to the U.K.

Britain's former home secretary, Jacqui Smith, announced in May that Savage was on a list of banned figures that include Muslim extremists and leaders of hate groups. Savage has threatened a lawsuit if his name is not removed.

The talk host, with America's third largest radio talk-show audience, has launched a petition that appeals to members of Congress to "act with the U.S. State Department and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to persuade the British government to immediately remove Michael Savage's name from its list of banned murderers and terrorists."

Along with Savage, confirmed speakers at the Washington conference include attorney and WND columnist Ellis Washington; U.K. Member of Parliament Lord Malcolm Pearson; writer and American Center for Democracy founder Rachel Ehrenfeld; and analyst and Center for Security Policy founder Frank Gaffney.

Other speakers include representatives of the U.S. Congress, the European Union Parliament, Liberty Counsel, Freedom House, the Thomas More Law Center, Liberty Counsel and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Co-sponsoring organizations include the Horowitz Freedom Center, the Florida Security Council and the O'Leary Report. The organizers expect lawyers, legislators, analysts and writers from the U.S. and E.U. to attend.

The conference is accredited in some states for Continuing Legal Education for attorneys, but it is open to the public.

More details and registration can be found online.