London: Joey Barton, who is being investigated by the Attorney General over tweets about the John Terry racism case, boldly said that he will “gladly go to jail for a month” to defend free speech.
Barton took to twitter after it emerged that he could face a charge of Contempt of court.
The 29-year-old Queens Park Rangers captain gave a robust view of the incident that led to Terry being accused of using racist language against Barton’s team-mate Anton Ferdinand last October.
“I will gladly go to jail for a month, in the name of free speech. I have no problem with what I said. Make me a martyr...,” a daily quoted Barton as tweeting.
“What are they going to do put everyone who exercises freedom of speech in jail? They’ll be a revolution, if they try that s**t,” he said.
The footballer’s girlfriend Georgia McNeil also waded into the row with a tweet.
“Absolutely ridiculous what’s in today’s news, are they gonna prosecute everyone on twitter who has an opinion? I think not! Outrageous!” she tweeted.
On Friday, the Football Association stripped Terry, who vehemently denied the charge of the England captain’s armband because his trial will not take place until after this summer’s European Championship finals.
Barton used Twitter to claim that while he does not believe Chelsea captain Terry is a racist, he should have admitted his error and taken any punishment on the chin long ago.
He made very strong remarks about Terry’s behaviour and the case, which he has since deleted.
ANI
First Published: Monday, February 06, 2012, 12:37