Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Manga Images Depicting Children Lead to Conviction in UK

Posted by timothy on from the we-know-what-you-were-thinking dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this news from the UK, as reported by Ars Technica: A 39-year-old UK man has been convicted of possessing illegal cartoon drawings of young girls exposing themselves in school uniforms and engaging in sex acts. The case is believed to be the UK's first prosecution of illegal manga and anime images. Local media said that Robul Hoque was sentenced last week to nine months' imprisonment, though the sentence is suspended so long as the defendant does not break the law again. Police seized Hoque's computer in 2012 and said they found nearly 400 such images on it, none of which depicted real people but were illegal nonetheless because of their similarity to child pornography. Hoque was initially charged with 20 counts of illegal possession but eventually pled guilty to just 10 counts.

5 of 475 comments (clear)

  1. Ridiculous by SuperDre · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is when people just go too far.. It's a f-ing drawing, it's not real..
    This just tells me the people who made these laws are really in need of some psychotherapie if they think these drawings should be forbidden.. What's next, put people in jail just for what they are thinking?

  2. Re: Moral Imperialism by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is there really someone so stupid that they cannot tell the difference between a cartoon drawing and a real child?

    There appears to be an entire united kingdom whose legal system is populated with such people.

    Just FYI, the rule against illegal cartoons exists in the USA too. The Supreme Court struck down attempts to use CP laws in this way as being obvious nonsense, so Congress just went ahead and amended the law to make it explicitly illegal as opposed to implicitly illegal.

    Unfortunately a lot of crap like this ends up being brought into otherwise sane legal systems thanks to pressure from the USA to "upgrade" national laws to meet the "latest standards". Japan has been pressured for years to tighten its CP laws, being publicly named and shamed etc - the primary justification for not doing so was fear of false positives. Like this one. And like the notorious cases where two teenagers can legally have sex but not photograph themselves doing it.

    Fact is, politicians love being able to say they made the law tougher on paedophiles. It's a sure popularity winner. So it's inevitable you end up with idiocy like this.

  3. Re:Thought policing by Slick_W1lly · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Indeed.

    So where do I go to file a lawsuit against all them old mansions for 'displaying child porn' with the cherub stonework in full display.
    Children abound.. some of them with their dangly bits out... 0_o

    http://carvingswithstories.blo...

    Looks like a sex act t'me guv.

  4. Re:Good riddance. by Cederic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually Government ministers have stated a desire to extend the law to written materials.

    Since the laws on images include scenes of bondage, the moment they extend it to written materials I'm bringing around 400,000 private prosecutions against women that own 50 Shades.

  5. Re:pics? by wrook · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When I was living in Japan, a friend asked me to send him a copy of Inu Yasha volume 1 so he could give it to his daughter. She wanted to use it to help study the Japanese language. It was her favorite anime and she wanted to read the manga. I was about to send it to him and noticed that there is a scene with Kagome (the heroine) bathing naked. She's meant to be 14. Not wanting to get my friend involved in importing child porn, I ended up not sending it. It is a shame that a 14 year old girl can't read her favorite manga because there is a picture of a naked 14 year old girl in it. Laws are laws, though...