A man who was convicted and fined for tweeting that he planned to blow up an airport will take his case to Britain’s High Court in a test of the limits of free speech on the Internet, his lawyers said Monday
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Attorneys for Paul Chambers said prominent human rights lawyer Ben Emmerson has been instructed to lead the legal challenge to Chambers’ conviction.
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Chambers, a 27-year-old trainee accountant, was arrested in January after he posted a message on Twitter saying he would blow Robin Hood Airport in northern England sky high if his flight, due to leave a week later, was delayed.
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Chambers insisted it was a joke. But a judge found him guilty of sending a menacing message over a public telecommunications network and ordered him to pay a 385 pound ($615) fine plus legal costs.
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Earlier this month another judge rejected Chambers’ appeal.
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The verdict caused a wave of outrage on Twitter, with thousands of supporters retweeting Chambers’ message with the tag I Am Spartacus — a reference to the 1960 movie epic in which the titular hero’s fellow rebels all assume his identity in a gesture of solidarity.