I was given 250 words to reply to the Durham Herald Sun's report on a protest of my recent appearance in Chapel Hill. (Listen or download this excellent radio overview of the controversy, first with ICON director Janie Wagstaff, and then my discussion.)

The letter appeared on October 27, 2016.

To the editor --

A recent story includes unsubstantiated attacks on me.

I am not a “hate speaker” because I write about Islamic blasphemy law, which outlaws criticism of Islam and Mohammed, and for which the punishment is often death; or because I cover tyrannical speech codes that once-free societies are imposing as Western states submit to Islamic law.

It is not “virulent hatred against Muslims and immigrants” to report on Muslim “grooming gangs” in British cities that have prostituted thousands of underage British girls (as British authorities turned a “politically correct” blind eye); or the lives of fear that “apostates” from Islam lead because leaving Islam – i.e., freedom of religion, freedom of conscience – is a capital crime under Islamic law; or the craven failure of political leaders (except Donald Trump) to address the existential threat to our constitutional principles posed by the import of the religious-political-legal system codified in Islamic law (sharia), which accompanies Muslim immigration.

It is not “paranoia that Muslims want to take over the country” to describe the reality of Islamization in Europe: Islamic sectors in Sweden where police and firemen are routinely attacked; the establishment of 85 sharia courts in the UK; the introduction into Western society of female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and polygamy; the 24/7 security cordon some few brave European politicians and journalists who speak out against the disappearance of their civilization must live with or be killed.

Mine is not a “bigoted voice” because I speak freely about defending liberty in the USA.

Diana West