Philips Arps, unrepentant of his actions, was sentenced to 21 months in prison. (Image via: CBS News)

Man Jailed 21 Months for Sharing Christchurch Incident Video

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Scandal
Crime
Jun 18, 2019
2350
WELLINGTON - The video of Christchurch massacre had been banned from being distributed online. However today (18/6), Philip Arps (44), had to face the consequence when the businessman distributed the video of the March Christchurch massacre to around 30 associates of his.

Mr. Arps was sentenced to 21 months of imprisonment due to distributing objectionable material on social media platform.

It was 15 March, when Brenton Tarrant (29) broke into Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand and started firing 42 Muslim people who were currently praying at the mosque, including the man who warmly greeted the man outside the mosque.

Then he proceeded to broke into Linwood Muslim Center, 5 km from Al-Noor mosque and fired other 9 people. 2 of 9 injured people died after they were brought to hospital.

The whole incident was recorded live on Facebook Live.

Since then, Facebook and all media had been prohibited from distributing the media, afraid of other terrorism acts. Mr. Arps was one of the people who distributed the video.

The world verily condemned the act. Philip Arps, on the other hand, supported the act, having the same ideology as Tarrant as white supremacist and bears a great hatred toward Islam.

At the hearing, Mr. Arps did not even show his guilt. In fact, he was proud of his action and called the shooting “awesome”.

He even put himself on par with Rudolf Hess, a right hand man of Nazi Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.

District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll stated in the court that it was a hate-crime to support the mass shooting driven by religious views and hatred to certain racial group. Especially, by the unrepentant act that Mr. Arps showed during the hearing.

Despite the absence of evidence, Mr. O’Driscoll stated that the associates involved in the spreading of the video was told by Mr. Arps to edit the video and to add kill count to the video to make it meme-like, showing that he is conscious of his action and unrepentant for it.

Due to the distribution, Mr. Arps could face up to 14 years of imprisonment. Nonetheless, Mr. Arps objected the charge, stating that it was his human rights to pursue his own political beliefs. At the end of the court, he filed an appeal to the court.

The whole New Zealand is still mourning over Christchurch incident, regardless of race and religious views. Jacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand, established “Christchurch Call”, an effort to cleanse the internet platform from being stained by the distribution of the graphic violence. In addition, New Zealand also enforces gun laws and restriction since the attack, to prevent other terrorism act.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/sharer-of-new-zealand-mosque-shooting-video-gets-21-months-jail-1550934-2019-06-18

Crime , Hate Speech , Terrorism , New Zealand , Christchurch , Christchurch Shooting , Islamophobia , White Supremacy , Philip Arps , Brenton Tarrant , Jacinda Ardern , Neo-Nazi , Religion