British Muslim men accused of hate crime over anti-gay leaflet

By Rizwan Khatik - Thu Jan 12, 8:01 am

London : Five Muslim men in Britain have been charged with distributing leaflets calling for gay people to be executed.

The men distributed the leaflets outside a mosque in Derby and through letter-boxes before a Gay Pride parade in 2010, The Sun reported.

One leaflet titled “The Death Penalty?” included a picture of a hanged mannequin.

It said death sentence had “already been passed on every homosexual” and the only issue was whether they were to be hanged, burned or stoned.

A second titled “Turn or Burn” featured a blazing lake as an image of hell while a third told gays “God abhors you” and warned of “severe punishment”.

Razwan Javed, 28, Kabir Ahmed, 28, Ihjaz Ali, 42, Umer Javed, 38, and Mehboob Hussain, 44 — all residents of Derby  have denied distributing the material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

“I felt it meant I was going to get burnt. I’ve never seen anything so disgraceful. It made me feel physically sick,” a gay man who was given one such leaflet told the Derby crown court.

Prosecutor Bobbie Cheema said the message on the leaflets was “horrible, frightening and nasty”.