Homophobia
A trial in Derby in January found three Muslim men guilty of hate crimes after distributing graphically violent literature that called for homosexuals to be killed.
Ihjaz Ali, 42, Kabir Ahmed, 28, and Razwan Javed, 28, were found guilty of breaching hate crime legislation by distributing the leaflets outside a mosque and posting them through letterboxes in the Normanton area of Derby.
According to a court report, Ali was sentenced to two years in prison at Derby Crown Court, while Ahmed and Javed were jailed for 15 months. Two other men were acquitted of the same charge.
The court heard that one leaflet, entitled Death penalty?, had an image of a mannequin hanging by the neck from a noose. Another, called Turn or burn, reportedly had on its reverse side a picture of a human body burning in flames.
Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said, ‘This case was not about curtailing people’s religious views or preventing them from educating others about those views. It was that any such views should be expressed in a lawful manner and not incite others to hatred’.
