A Muslim protester who daubed a war memorial with graffiti glorifying Osama Bin Laden and proclaiming 'Islam will dominate the world' walked free from court after prosecutors ruled his actions were not motivated by religion.
Tohseef Shah, 21, could have faced a tougher sentence if the court had accepted that the insults - which included a threat to kill the Prime Minister - were inspired by religious hatred.
But - citing a loophole in the law - the Crown Prosecution Service chose not to charge him with that offence and he escaped with only a two-year conditional discharge and an order to pay the council £500 compensation after admitting causing criminal damage. Yesterday the decision was attacked by politicians and veterans who were shocked by the desecration of the memorial in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire.
Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Parliamentary Counter Terrorism sub-committee, said: 'This is an outrage against our war dead.'
Shah sprayed the words 'Islam will dominate the world - Osama is on his way' and 'Kill Gordon Brown' on the plinth of the memorial in December. He was arrested after his DNA was found on the discarded spray-can but refused to give an explanation for his actions or show any remorse, a court heard.
A file was sent to lawyers at the Counter Terrorism Division of the CPS in London to see if there was a racially or religiously motivated connotation. However when Shah appeared before magistrates this week, prosecutor Andrew Bodger said: 'It was decided there was not enough evidence to prove this, and they decided it was politically motivated.'
Defending, Mumtaz Chaudry said Shah did not hold extremist views. 'This is nothing to do with his religious beliefs, his family's beliefs or his cultural beliefs,' he said. 'He is just an ordinary guy. 'He is remorseful, but at the time of his interview he was simply answering questions and didn't realise that was the right time to show remorse.'
Local veterans reacted with horror last night. Roy Whenman, 78, who fought in the Korean War, said: 'If what he wrote on the memorial wasn't evidence of racial or religious hatred then what is? 'The memorial commemorates people of my generation who died for our freedom as well as those fighting in wars today. 'It's diabolical that someone could deface it in this way.'
Community leaders among Burton- upon-Trent's 4,000-strong Muslim population also slammed Shah's actions.
Khadim Thathall, a former president of a mosque in the town, said: 'This young man has clearly been radicalised by groups which are looking to cause trouble and it's a pity that the court hasn't been able to deal with him more strictly.' Shah - believed to be a former student of De Montfort University in Leicester - uses as his Facebook profile photograph a flaming lion's head superimposed on crossed Kalashnikov rifles.
He lives with his parents in a £200,000 detached house and works at his father's car spares shop. Last night, he refused to discuss the case. Instead he appointed Abdullah Ibn Abbas, who described himself as spiritual leader of a group called Road to Jannah, to speak on his behalf. He said: 'It really doesn't concern us how the British people feel about the graffiti he wrote - the real outrage should be about the thousands of Muslims who are being killed and butchered as a result of British foreign policy.'
The CPS said Shah's offence could not be charged as a hate crime because the law requires that damage must target a particular religious or racial group. It said: 'While it was appreciated that what was sprayed on the memorial may have been perceived by some to be part of a racial or religious incident, no racial or religious group can be shown to have been targeted.'
The case comes after a senior judge ruled on Thursday that Christian beliefs had no right to protection by the courts.
Lord Justice Laws told Christian counsellor Gary McFarlane he had no right to appeal after he was sacked for refusing to give sex therapy to a gay couple. The judge said legal protection for views held purely on religious grounds would be 'irrational'.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0me7cgBRA
The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
Who taught you roman numerals?
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
If it so bad in England the clot should go somewhere, where he can feel free to be what he wants.
OOOPs if you protest like that in Afganistan you can be publicly beeten for defacing government propperty. In Iran I read any form of public desent is punishable under Muslim law and that can leave you dead.
What is this git complaning about?
OOOPs if you protest like that in Afganistan you can be publicly beeten for defacing government propperty. In Iran I read any form of public desent is punishable under Muslim law and that can leave you dead.
What is this git complaning about?
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
Just another example of how soft on crime the UK is, especially for muslims.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
If this act of vandalism had 'nothing to do with his religious beliefs, his family's beliefs or his cultural beliefs', what was the motivation behind it?
Why choose those words? Why not 'Ahkimma won't be among the 72 virgins in the afterlife'?
Why choose those words? Why not 'Ahkimma won't be among the 72 virgins in the afterlife'?
Bah!
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
The words "Islam will dominate the world" seem to have a vaguely religious connotation.
Unless of course he's a bookie and was offering odds on it...
Islam will dominate the world 15/2
Pastafarianism will dominate the world 3/1
Unless of course he's a bookie and was offering odds on it...
Islam will dominate the world 15/2
Pastafarianism will dominate the world 3/1
Why is it that when Miley Cyrus gets naked and licks a hammer it's 'art' and 'edgy' but when I do it I'm 'drunk' and 'banned from the hardware store'?
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
Except that the law doesn't require simply a religious connotation, but evidence of religious hatred.
Saying that Islam will rule the world doesn't necessarily imply hatred of other religions. It doesn't, in itself, suggest that other religions should not be allowed to exist or should not be tolerated. He didn't write "and other religions will be crushed into dust", nor did he scrawl his ravings on the walls of, say, a synagogue or a Hindu temple, which would have said something quite different about what his view of Islamic rule would mean for other religions.
But it is rather neat that the report shifts terminology to and fro in order to leave the impression that religious connotation alonewould have been sufficient for an enhanced charge. Seems to have worked.
Saying that Islam will rule the world doesn't necessarily imply hatred of other religions. It doesn't, in itself, suggest that other religions should not be allowed to exist or should not be tolerated. He didn't write "and other religions will be crushed into dust", nor did he scrawl his ravings on the walls of, say, a synagogue or a Hindu temple, which would have said something quite different about what his view of Islamic rule would mean for other religions.
But it is rather neat that the report shifts terminology to and fro in order to leave the impression that religious connotation alonewould have been sufficient for an enhanced charge. Seems to have worked.
"The dildo of consequence rarely comes lubed." -- Eileen Rose
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
Hey Scooter - is your avatar a real photo of you?
I've always pictured you looking like that.
I've always pictured you looking like that.
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
It's Andy Hallett as Lorne, a demon who could read someone's innermost thoughts by listening to them sing, from the TV series Angel.
"The dildo of consequence rarely comes lubed." -- Eileen Rose
Re: The UK has gone mad (part XXXIIIV)
And "Kill Gordon Brown" is not hatred just common sense. 
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”