Islam = peaceful indeed......Cartoon protest leader guilty of soliciting murder
Muslims protest in London after the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in Danish and French newspapers. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA
A leader of a demonstration in protest against cartoons of the prophet Mohammed published in Danish newspapers was yesterday convicted at the Old Bailey of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred.
Umran Javed, 27, of Birmingham, was found guilty yesterday of soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred during a demonstration outside the Danish embassy in Knightsbridge, west London, in February last year.
The protest had been called following publication of a number of cartoons in Denmark which portrayed Mohammed in various unflattering forms. The original protesters were later joined by between 200 and 300 others, who had marched from the Regent's Park mosque.
Police monitoring the demonstration took video footage of the protesters and Javed was arrested later after more than 100 complaints had been made by members of the public. The court was told that Javed had used a loud hailer to address around 40 other demonstrators.
"He appeared to be one of the leaders," prosecuting counsel David Perry QC told the jury. "He addressed the crowd in terms which encouraged killing and incited racial hatred ... He said Denmark would pay with blood."
He was also alleged to have shouted: "Bomb, bomb Denmark. Bomb, bomb USA." Mr Perry said the crowd responded to his calls with similar calls and chants.
Mr Perry told the jury that the case was not about the issues of freedom of assembly or freedom of speech. The words used were plainly criminal, he said.
Earlier, Javed told the jury: "I regret saying these things. I understand the implications they have, but they were just slogans, soundbites. I did not want to see Denmark and the USA being bombed."
There were angry scenes in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced and Javed was remanded in custody for sentencing in April.
The conviction was attacked last night by Muslim activists who said that a fair trial was not possible in the current climate in Britain. They said that the demonstrators had merely been expressing their anger and not literally calling for murder.
The cartoons were not published in the United Kingdom but have since appeared in publications in France and are available on the internet.
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