For the Italian indymedia page in question, link here: http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/777206.php

Thursday May 5, 3:25 AM

Italian website banned over 'Nazi' pope picture

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050504/1/3scsi.html



An Italian website that published a photo montage of Pope Benedict XVI dressed in a Nazi uniform was told to suspend its activities on Wednesday for offending the Roman Catholic religion, court officials said.

Rome prosecutors accuse the Indymedia Italia site, which is part of a network of alternative media websites, of causing offense to the Catholic religion by publishing the photo montage alongside the caption "Nazi pope".

Under Italian law, the offense is punishable by up to one year in jail.

The website, which is registered under the name of a Brazilian-based company, Indipendent Media Center, was still online Wednesday evening and showing the controversial image despite the court ruling.

Italy's largest press union, FNSI, slammed the decision as an "unacceptable attack on critical and satirical freedom".

"Indymedia publishes without any form of censorship any kind of electronic message -- that is the basis of its editorial policy," said the FNSI's secretary general, Paolo Serventi Longhi.

"I do not agree with the message's content, in fact I find it very serious, but press freedom cannot be called into question," he added.

Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno, a member of the conservative National Alliance, hailed the decision to ban the site, arguing that Indymedia Italia had "reached a pinnacle of offensiveness and vulgarity".

Italians seek to close Web site showing pope as Nazi

Published: April 29, 2005, 3:50 PM PDT

By Reuters

Rome judicial authorities sought a temporary injunction on Friday against an Internet site which carried doctored photographs of Pope Benedict dressed in a Nazi uniform.

The crude photomontages of the head of former German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on the body of a man wearing a swastika armband and standing in front of a Nazi flag were posted 10 days ago on the Italian branch of the international news and opinion site, Independent Media Center.

Rome investigating magistrate Salavtore Vitello said in a statement that the pictures violated a national law prohibiting defamation of the Catholic Church. Vitello said he was also considering taking action against the owners of the site for insulting the authority and honor of the pope himself.

Ratzinger served in the Hitler Youth, a Nazi paramilitary organization, in World War II when membership was compulsory for young Germans.

He was soon released to study for the priesthood, and his biographers have said he was never a member of the Nazi Party and his family opposed Hitler's regime.

Jewish leaders and human rights groups have welcomed his election as pope and his anti-Nazi roots.

Judicial sources in Rome said the Indymedia site was registered in Brazil and it was not immediately clear how the injunction, if granted, would be put into effect.

The Italian arm of the Independent Media Center, whose site is a forum for hundreds of contributors around the world on issues ranging from anti-globalization to gay rights, could not be reached for comment.

Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Sucks that they are killing hte free speech but that is highly offensive and stupid of them. You wouldn't go to Israel and play around with the Torah, or go to Saudi Arabia and make fun of Mohamed.