Lars Hedegaard (born 19 September 1942) is a Danish author, historian, editor, journalist andcritic of Islam.[1] He established theInternational Free Press Society in 2009, an extension of theDanish Free Press Society founded in 2004,[2] of which he served as chairman until 2014.[3] Hedegaard was the subject of an assassination attempt in 2013, after which he has lived under police protection.[4]
Hedegaard was born inHorsens.[5] He received acand.phil. degree in history fromAarhus University in 1971, and acand.mag. in English from theUniversity of Copenhagen in 1973.[6] At first a high school teacher,[7] he later worked as an editorial publisher ofSage Publishing[8] inLos Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.[5] He was also one of the editors and driving forces behind theFundamental historie series of modern history books around the same time.[8] A self-describedMarxist,[a] he was politically active as a member of the TrotskyistSocialist Workers Party until 1982.[7] He was the editor of thePolitiken publishing house in the early 1980s,[10] and the chief editor ofDagbladet Information in the late 1980s,[5][9] until he was forced to leave the left-wing newspaper after he helped expose the far-leftBlekingegade Gang.[11] He was an editor for theNordic Council throughout the 1990s,[5] and became part of the satirical editorial column "Groft sagt" forBerlingske Tidende in 1998.[11] He wrote for the column until he was fired from the newspaper in 2008, according to himself because he had been told to stop writing about Islam bya new editor-in-chief, which he refused to do.[12]
Hedegaard became known as a critic of Islam shortly after theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001.[13] He co-authored the bookI krigens hus: Islams kolonisering af Vesten about Islam's "colonisation of the West" in the "house of war" withHelle Merete Brix in 2003, which has been described as a part of the "Eurabia narrative".[13] He founded theDanish Free Press Society in 2004 afterDanish PEN objected to admit him as a member due to his writings inI krigens hus,[8] and established theInternational Free Press Society in 2009, which has been described as a central networking hub for thecounter-jihad movement.[2] Hedegaard has been described as a part of the counter-jihad movement,[14][15][16] having participated in several of the international counter-jihad conferences held since 2007.[17][18]
Hedegaard speaking at Mosbjerg Folkefest in 2015 (in Danish)
In December 2009, Hedegaard was reported to the police by Yilmaz Evcil of theÅrhus Municipality integration council for comments made against Muslims.[23] He had made critical remarks against the Islamic society, which included "they rape their own children. You hear it all the time. Girls in Muslim families are raped by their uncles, their cousins or their father".[24] He was first acquitted in January 2011 because the statements were made in an interview with the blogSnaphanen that he claimed he did not know would be publicised publicly.[25] Later the same year, in May, the acquittal was reversed as he was convicted ofhate speech under the Article 266b, and fined 5,000 kr,[26] even as he clarified that he did not intend to accuse all Muslims of abusing their children.[27] He appealed the second verdict, and in April 2012, theSupreme Court of Denmark finally acquitted him in a 7–0 decision.[28]
On 5 February 2013, a gunman posing as a mailman attempted to shoot Hedegaard at his home. The gunshot narrowly missed his head, and the assailant escaped after a scuffle after his gun jammed.[29] The Danish Prime MinisterHelle Thorning-Schmidt condemned the attack and said the case was even more severe if the motive was to prevent Hedegaard from using his free speech.[30][31][32] Danish Muslims responded by rallying to defend Hedegaard and to defend his right to free speech. The Islam Society, which had been heavily involved in the protest against theJyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons and helped to publicise their opposition internationally, stated that it regretted its role during the controversy, and the Danish branch ofMinhaj-ul-Quran demonstrated outside the City Hall in defence of Hedegaard and free speech.[33]
Since the attack, Hedegaard has been constantly guarded by theDanish Security and Intelligence Service (PET), and has had to live in hiding in a rural place in Denmark on a secret address.[4][34] He has said that the high rent cost of the highly secured residence offered to him by PET has ruined him financially.[35] He went on a leave of absence as chairman of the Danish Free Press Society after the assassination attempt, and finally left the position toKatrine Winkel Holm in 2014.[36] He wrote a book about the assassination attempt in 2015, titledAttentatet.[37][38] He was thereafter charged with naming the suspected shooter in his book against a court prohibition, and in 2016 sentenced to a fine of 10,000 kr.[39][40]
In November 2016, the US State Department issued a note, designating three persons as terror-operatives, one of whom wasBasil Hassan, an external operations plotter for theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who was accused of having attempted to shoot Hedegaard. Hassan was said to have been released as part of an alleged exchange for 49 hostages held by ISIL after having been arrested in Turkey in 2014, and was believed to have travelled to Syria to join ISIL after his release.[41] The prohibition on naming Hassan by a Danish court was lifted in December 2016.[42]
Hedegaard authored two volumes of memoirs in 2010 and 2011,Verden var så rød, mor, about the period 1942–1980, andRæven går derude, mor, about the period 1980–2011.[11] He received the Raoul Wallenberg Medal in 2005, and the Defender of Freedom Award and the Niels Ebbesen Medal in 2012.[11] Also in 2012, the Danish Free Press Society published a 302-pageFestschrift to Hedegaard, titledFrem for alt frihed: festskrift til Lars Hedegaard, with over twenty-one main contributors, both Danish and international.[43][b]
Hedegaard has been married twice. In 1969, heconverted to Judaism in connection with his marriage to his first wife, Jewish-American Barbara Levin. Hedegaard has three children and one step-daughter.[5]
Der var et yndigt land - en beretning om truslen mod Danmark. Co-authored with Camre, Mogens; Hasselbalch, Ole. Den Danske Forenings Forlag. 2014.ISBN9788790183103.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Den forbudte sandhed. Co-authored with Camre, Mogens. Den Danske Forening. 2013.ISBN9788790183073.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Muhammeds piger - vold, mord og voldtægter i Islams Hus. Trykkefrihedsselskabets Bibliotek. 2011.ISBN9788792417213.
Ræven går derude, mor: Erindringer: 1980-2011. Trykkefrihedsselskabets Bibliotek. 2011.ISBN9788792417237.
Verden var så rød, mor: Erindringer: 1942-1980. Trykkefrihedsselskabets Bibliotek. 2010.ISBN9788792417145.
Frihedens væsen: Fra Perikles til Hirsi Ali. Co-edited with Jalving, Mikael. Trykkefrihedsselskabets Bibliotek. 2009.ISBN9788792417077.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
1400 års krigen: islams strategi, EU og frihedens endeligt. Co-authored with Camre, Mogens. Trykkefrihedsselskabets Bibliotek. 2009.ISBN9788792417060.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Groft sagt: Lars Hedegaards 100 bedste. Trykkefrihedsselskabets Bibliotek. 2009.ISBN9788792417015.
I krigens hus: Islams kolonisering af Vesten. Co-authored with Brix, Helle Merete; Hansen, Torben. Hovedland. 2003.ISBN9788777396717.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Temaer til tiden, bind 1. Co-authored with Lerche Nielsen, Jørgen. Gyldendal Uddannelse. 1997.ISBN8700287822.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Bosnia and the West: a hearing 15-16 January 1996. Det Udenrigspolitiske Selskab. 1996.
En nordisk mening med Europa. Foreningen Norden. 1994.ISBN8787635038.
Det sterke Norden i et regionalisert Europa. Co-authored with Veggeland, Noralv. Vett & Viten. 1994.ISBN9788241201523.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^abcdef"Fakta om Lars Hedegaard" [Facts about Lars Hedegaard].DR (in Danish). 5 February 2013.Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved23 March 2016.
^abBerntzen, Lars Erik (2019).Liberal Roots of Far Right Activism: The Anti-Islamic Movement in the 21st Century. Routledge. p. 196.ISBN9780429275012.Hedegaard (born 1942), co-founder and director of the Danish and International Free Press Society, is a self-professed Marxist and convert to Judaism. He was an active member of the Danish Socialist Workers Party until 1982. A historian by education, he worked as a high-school teacher before becoming a journalist
^abcKnippel, Lars Ole (19 September 2012)."Karsk og kontroversiel" [Bold and controversial].Jyllands-Posten (in Danish).Archived from the original on 2 April 2024.
^abDahlin, Ulrik (31 January 2008)."'Jeg er da stadig marxist ...'" ['I am though still a Marxist ...'].Dagbladet Information (in Danish).Archived from the original on 17 November 2020.
^"Blå bog om Lars Hedegaard" [Who's who of Lars Hedegaard].Jyllands-Posten (in Danish). Ritzau. 12 October 2014.Archived from the original on 1 April 2024.
^abcdBlüdnikow, Bent (16 September 2017)."Venstrefløjens onde ånd" [The left's evil spirit].JydskeVestkysten (in Danish).Archived from the original on 9 January 2025.
^Rathje, Michael (31 January 2011)."Hedegaard frifindes for racisme" [Hedegaard acquitted of racism].TV 2 (in Danish). Ritzau.Archived from the original on 9 January 2025.
^Madsen, Jens Jørgen (3 May 2011)."Lars Hedegaard dømt for racisme" [Lars Hedegaard convicted of racism].Journalisten (in Danish).Archived from the original on 1 April 2024.
^Søndberg, Astrid; Abolhosseini, Farzam (3 May 2011)."Lars Hedegaard er dømt for racisme" [Lars Hedegaard is convicted of racism].Politiken (in Danish).Archived from the original on 8 May 2011.
