Europe's warped hate speech laws which I discussed yesterday have produced another odd sentence. Consider this:

A Paris court fined the terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal" more than $6,000 Tuesday for saying in a French television interview that terror attacks sometimes were "necessary."

The 56-year-old Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was convicted of defending terrorism.

In a 2004 report on M6 television, Ramirez said: "We are authorized to take life if necessary." The judges ruled that he presented terrorist acts as "legal and even necessary."

The court did not convict him for expressing pleasure that "the Great Satan" - the United States - suffered the Sept. 11 attacks, saying those comments were his personal reaction.

The fight against terrorism is probably better served if former terrorists that are serving their sentence are barred from giving any interviews for the duration of their incarceration. Would-be terrorists would fail to get encouragement from yesteryear’s “icons” and the French taxpayer would be spared the cost of totally unnecessary court proceedings. But above all, this ruling and its justification again underline the arbitrary and dangerous nature of hate speech laws.