Men jailed for inciting hatred with anti-gay pamphlet
Three men were jailed yesterday after becoming the first to be convicted of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation for handing out a leaflet calling for gay people to be executed.
Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed gave out the pamphlet, entitled 'The Death Penalty?', that showed an image of a mannequin hanging from a noose and quoted Islamic texts that said capital punishment was the only way to rid society of homosexuality.
Ali was jailed for two years and Ahmed and Javed for 15 months each.
Threatening
Following a trial at Derby Crown Court, they were convicted by a jury of distributing threatening written material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation -- the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came into force in Britain in March 2010.
Two other men, Mehboob Hussain and Umar Javed, who were also charged with the same offence, were found not guilty.
The leaflet stated that the Islamic verdict on anyone caught committing homosexuality is to apply capital punishment to both parties involved.
It said: "The death sentence is the only way this immoral crime can be erased from corrupting society and act as a deterrent for any other ill person who is remotely inclined in this bent way."
The leaflet continues: "The only dispute amongst the classical authorities was the method employed in carrying out the penal code."
- Lucy Bogustawski in Derby
Irish Independent
