Press Council clears Piers Akerman calling Yassmin Abdel-Magied an ‘idiot’ as necessary ‘vigorous public debate’

A column by Piers Akerman which described Yassmin Abdel-Magied as a “silly Muslim woman”, “a fool” and “halfwit” has been cleared by the press watchdog, as being opinion and in the interests of public debate.

The article in question, ‘What genius gave this Islam idiot a soapbox’, appeared in The Sunday Telegraph on April 30 2017. In it, Akerman questioned the concept of multiculturalism and attacked those who had “fallen over themselves” to promote it.

The press watchdog has cleared the article

Akerman made reference to a number of public comments by Abdel-Magied, her part time job at the ABC, and position on the Council for Australian-Arab Relations.

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