to free speech". Describing van Gogh's film Submission as "furiously provocative", Jayasekera concluded by describing his death as: "A sensational climax to a lifetime's public performance, stabbed and shot by a bearded fundamentalist, a message from the killer pinned by a dagger to his chest, Theo van Gogh became a martyr to free expression. His passing was marked by a magnificent barrage of noise as Amsterdam hit the streets to celebrate him in the way the man himself would have truly appreciated. And what timing! Just as his long-awaited biographical film of Pim Fortuyn's life is ready to screen. Bravo, Theo! Bravo!" There were many protests from both left- and right-wing commentators at the article. The veteran feminist commentator Germaine Greer called the item "vile vomit" and told the London Sunday Telegraph in December 2004, that: "The problem with Index on Censorship's position is that, by its nature, they have to publish things that they don't agree with in order to prove their own point. I would hope that by giving a fanatic a platform and listening to what he says, that people would be able to see how crazy that person is and refute his arguments. On the other hand, no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the public." Nick Cohen of The Observer claimed in December 2004 that Jayasekera: "...told me that, like many other readers, I shouldn't have made the mistake of believing that Index on Censorship was against censorship, even murderous censorship, on principle — in the same way as Amnesty International is opposed to torture, including murderous torture, on principle. It may have been so in its radical youth, but was now as concerned with fighting 'hate speech' as protecting free speech." Ursula Owen, the editor-in-chief of Index on Censorship'', and a co-founder of the feminist publishers Virago strongly repudiated Cohen's account in a letter to the Observer. She later apologised for Jayasekera's original comment article, saying she didn't think "the tone (was) right". References External links Index on Censorship website The Institute for War & Peace Reporting The Borehamwood Times (formerly Borehamwood Post) Rohan Jayasekera's Tumblr page British writers 1961 births Living people English people of Sri Lankan descent