Death Penalty For Gays? UK Men Convicted Over Homophobic Literature

Posted by Evan Rodd on Jan 20, 2012 in Crime | 19 comments

After a law making it an offense to incite hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, three men in Britain have been convicted after distributing literature saying anyone engaging in homosexual activity should be put to death.

The Daily Mail reports:

Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed handed out the pamphlet, called The Death Penalty?, which 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.

Today 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 in the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came into force in March 2010.

Mehboob Hussain and Umar Javed, who were also charged with the same offence, were found not guilty by the jury.

…During their trial, the jury of seven men and five women heard the men, who are all from Derby, admitted distributing the leaflet, but said they were simply quoting and following what their religion teaches about homosexuality and did not intend to threaten anyone.

The leaflet was handed out outside and near the Jamia Mosque in Derby’s Rosehill Street and in streets around the local neighbourhood in July 2010.

…The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) welcomed the guilty verdicts adding that everyone has a right to be protected against hate crimes.

Sue Hemming, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: ‘A court has heard for the first time from witnesses how they felt, as gay men, when they read a leaflet calling for the death penalty for homosexuals.

…”While people are entitled to hold extreme opinions which others may find unpleasant and obnoxious, they are not entitled to distribute those opinions in a threatening manner intending to stir up hatred against gay people.

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.”

Gay rights group Stonewall welcomed the convictions, which it said ‘vindicates’ its fight against hate crimes.

What are your thoughts on this? I could say a thing or two about religious fundamentalism in any regard, but given the conversations around SPOA and PIPA in the U.S., how do we feel about regulations regarding what is and isn’t legal to say, even when it may be protecting our safety? How do we draw the line between free speech and hate speech, and who’s job is it to do that?

On the flip side, I wouldn’t mind seeing a similar argument used against some of the GOP candidates we’ve had to deal with.

(Via The Daily Mail)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Chreiya-Sonia-Zaari/100001967165977 Chreiya Sonia Zaari

They should rot in jail for life.

Anonymous

Now that’s the kind of comment I would expect from a fundamentalist Muslim.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=72901040 Eric Michael Martin

No. A fundamentalist Muslim would demand death, as they do in fundamentalist Muslim theocracies. Jail is for raped women who refuse to marry their rapist.

Anonymous

You know what I was getting at Michael

http://www.facebook.com/stewart.hird Stewart Hird

To be honest, that is a bit extra really. Although what they did was pretty rude, it’s not like they actually went out and started hanging drawing and quartering people for being gay.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Hunt/1111684615 Richard Hunt

You want to wait until they actually do start hanging, drawing and quartering people before you act upon it? Should we wait until they have hung YOU for doing something against their religious beliefs? I don’t think so.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jesus-Suarez/1112370823 Jesus Suarez

Well what an interesting change of attitude……Imagine how outraged people would be of a leaflet demanding the death of all muslims ……what would they {Muslims} like to happen to people passing those pamphlets around…??
http://www.facebook.com/laine.laulu Adele Krieger

Well, seeing what England did to people like Oscar Wilde for being gay…

Anonymous

And the persecution which lead to the suicide of Alan Turing
(the father of the electronic computer) but we have grown since then much like the US burning blacks in the south back as late as the 60′s.

Pingback: "It's Not The 1950s Anymore" RV Teen Charged with Hate Crime on School Bus - Attorney for Court
http://www.facebook.com/sammael88 Matthew Williamson

Here’s an easy way to draw the line between free speech and hate speech: death threats are not and should not ever be protected speech.
http://www.facebook.com/stepford Stephen Frost

It’s a shame that a site like this quotes anything from a paper such as The Daily Mail. They make half of their stories up and the other half are either anti-immigrant, anti-muslim or moaning about the unemployed. Typical conservative toilet roll. On the subject at hand though, we are tolerant here, but there’s a difference between free speech and hate speech and you wouldn’t see us lot putting up with Westboro Baptist Church, for example! Our system generally works very well.
http://www.facebook.com/cotterman Andy Cotterman

نعم ولكن تحتاج ان تكون بعين الاعتبار ان هؤلاء الرجال متشددين ومتطرفين وفي عينيهم يعتبرون نفسهم الشهداء. وعلى الرغم من ذلك لا احد يمكن ان يفكر سلبياً حول العرب او المسلمين فثقافتنا متسامحة ونحترم بافكار جديدة ونقبل وسائل الحياة الجديدة. كلنا اطفال الله.

Isis Anderson

Yes, but you need to be taken into account that the men were militants and extremists in their eye consider themselves martyrs. In spite of that no one can think negative about Arabs or Muslims Our culture tolerant and we respect and accept new ideas and new ways of life. We are all God’s children…..( Translated from above)Reply: I do agree that it would be just as wrong to group all Muslims in together and say that this is the act of a whole religion and race of people. It is often extremist in any culture that make themselves known in a way that falls on the heads of the culture itself. Prejudice in all forms is wrong but we all have at least one thing we are prejudice against. Mine is willful ignorance.
Isis Anderson

Yes, but you need to be taken into account that the men were militants and extremists in their eye consider themselves martyrs. In spite of that no one can think negative about Arabs or Muslims Our culture tolerant and we respect and accept new ideas and new ways of life. We are all God’s children…..( Translated from above)Reply: I do agree that it would be just as wrong to group all Muslims in together and say that this is the act of a whole religion and race of people. It is often extremist in any culture that make themselves known in a way that falls on the heads of the culture itself. Prejudice in all forms is wrong but we all have at least one thing we are prejudice against. Mine is willful ignorance.

Anonymous

I agree that people should be allowed to think what they want.—But When thinking crosses into, or calls for action and that action is HATE then its time to stop whatever the group is. –There is no slippery slope when it comes to sites like Unicornbooty,HRC and Out, as they do not incite violence. If anything these sites help us to notice when something is wrong or unjust.
Anonymous

Just as there are laws against libel and slander, I don’t see the problem with laws against physical threats. Even here in the US, the first amendment doesn’t grant people the right to make immediate threats of bodily hard to people and get away with it. Threatening an entire group of people with the gallows should definitely not be something interpreted as protected speech.
http://profile.yahoo.com/PNQRFWGKG5HQY522Y6ZGLGMPYI marina

That’s way too harsh. I think people are getting a bit too overprotective of the gays. We can’t protect everyone from names and threats you know, and gays aren’t the only ones getting them.
Anonymous

I’m mostly surprised that heterosexuals of all religions and stripes don’t hold themselves to a higher standard than this.

I’d say that a good rule of thumb would be that if society would not tolerate the particular speech in question toward blacks or jews or women or any OTHER minority group, it should not be tolerated against LGBT citizens, either.

What, are there ‘levels’ of humanity???
Anonymous

I’m mostly surprised that heterosexuals of all religions and stripes don’t hold themselves to a higher standard than this.

I’d say that a good rule of thumb would be that if society would not tolerate the particular speech in question toward blacks or jews or women or any OTHER minority group, it should not be tolerated against LGBT citizens, either.

What, are there ‘levels’ of humanity???
Pingback: Court Fines Man for Calling for 'Another Hitler to Exterminate Those Fags' on Facebook | Gay Blog | Gay News

Tags

Death Penalty For Gays? UK Men Convicted Over Homophobic Literature

Pages

Tags

Death Penalty For Gays? UK Men Convicted Over Homophobic Literature

Yo Categories

Pages