A Muslim extremist has been found guilty of burning poppies at a protest in west London on Armistice Day.
Emdadur Choudhury, 26, of Spitalfields, east London, was fined £50 for offences under the Public Order Act.
Choudhury, a member of Muslims Against Crusades (MAC), had denied the charge at Woolwich Crown Court.
Mohammed Haque, 30, of Bethnal Green, was cleared of the charge. Both men had been accused of burning three oversized poppies on 11 November in Kensington.
Rival protests had been taking place at the time near the Royal Albert Hall, the end point of a charity march at which serving members handed over books of condolence ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
District Judge Howard Riddle said: "The two-minute chanting, when others were observing a silence, followed by a burning of the symbol of remembrance was a calculated and deliberate insult to the dead and those who mourn or remember them." 'Just despicable'
Judge Riddle said the ceasefire at 11am on 11 November 1918 had "huge significance" for Britain and marked the end of a "terrible war".
He added: "Against that background, interrupting the two minutes' silence by chanting 'British soldiers burn in hell', followed by the burning of poppies, is behaviour that is bound to be seen as insulting."
The court was previously told that the grandson of a World War II soldier felt "sick inside" as Muslim extremists burned replica poppies. Poppy burning Veterans' families felt said they felt physically sick at the act
Tony Kibble said: "Halfway through, I looked up to see what was going on around and I saw a ball of fire fall to the ground. Literally, my stomach turned over.
"I felt sick inside. It is something that means so much to me and to see what I believed to be a wreath of poppies fall to the ground - it is just despicable."
Judge Riddle called Mr Kibble a "mild-mannered" man who had impressed him as a member of the public with "typical feelings" about Remembrance Day.
He said that freedom of expression was not unlimited.
Video footage of the incident was shown to the court.
In it, a member of the MAC could be heard to say, "the two minutes have started" before leading a series of anti-British chants.
About 20 men at the demonstration joined in with shouts of: "Burn, burn, British soldiers, British soldiers, burn in hell."
The crowd continued: "British soldiers - murderers, British soldiers - rapists, British soldiers - terrorists."
Their actions went "far beyond the boundaries of legitimate protest and freedom of expression," prosecutor Simon Ray said.
Choudhury, of Hunton Street, was found guilty under Section 5 of the Public Order Act of burning the poppies in a way that was likely to cause "harassment, harm or distress" to those who witnessed it.
Daniel Breger, defending, said Choudhury was a married man who worked part-time.
He said his wages were £480 a month, on top of which he recieves a monthly £792 in benefits from the state.
Choudhury must pay a £15 victim surcharge on top of his fine.
everything thats wrong with britain,he gets over 700 in benefits a month,which enables him to have the time to behave like this.it makes me despair it really does
Stop giving wankers like this any benefits if they carry on like this,you watch them then,if it was left up to me it would be deportation to any Muslim country they wanted and stripped of any citizenship
[quote="Wardle71"]its all gone mad over here now the law, the lot,cant and dont think about it now, as it just sends me mad[/quote]
Me too. I see the headlines but I just don't read the stories anymore because it just boils my piss and raises my blood pressure. I remember seeing this on the news when it happened and it made me realise how soft we are as a nation. This act is one of the worst ways of insulting our nation and the heroes who have and continue to make the ultimate sacrifice for us and yet nothing happens to him. An appearance in court and a poxy fine that we are paying for anyway. He will continue living off the state, which is a joke in itself, and go about his life normally. But lets be honest here. If you or I did something equally as offensive in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq or wherever his family originates from then this wouldn't have ended in court. The local people would just have murdered you on the spot. No questions asked.
If you or I did anything on a par with Islam in this country we'd get a heap more than a £50 fine ! Utter lowlife cunts every one of them, including the magistrate or judge who thought a fine was anywhere near appropriate. But what goes around comes around and with any luck/kharma etc in this world this pondlife will get a brick in his face and his beard burned off his face anytime soon
Because he has a beard, a gammy leg that plays up when it's cold, a dress, 15 kids, 6 wives, and to not give the cunt £800 in benefits would be racist.
[quote="Horse & Hound"]why the fuck does he get £800 in benefits?? What the hell is wrong with this country??[/quote]
That's ontop of the 480 he earn's a month working part-time, which by pure coincidence is the maximum your allowed to earn before you pay any tax.......................are you up to speed yet.
Added together that's a nice little earner.....................not bad for someone who despise's the government which look's after him and his family so well!
Makes me sick how this guy is quite happy to take benefits from good hard working people but god forbid he should add anything to the community or show a little gratitude to those that gave theyre lives, For if they did not they might not be here today, And what makes me mad is no one can say anything about theyre religion fifty sheets an absolute joke,
Quite a few topics involved in this, to be honest the welfare thing is the most interesting, surely you could see if it was possible to deny welfare to some offenders. It's a dangerous field though, many moral aspects in it. Its a shame that this idiot gets what he wants: attention for his disgusting views.
The category of the prosumer commodity does not signify a democratization of the media towards participatory systems, but the total commodification of human creativity
Its par for the course in this country nowadays, you could almost be forgiven for thinking that scum like this get preferential treatment in sentencing because of their religion !
I think the judge was a clever cookie... By giving him a 50 quid fine he has kept it in the news... He is also actually stoking the anti extremist Muslim sentiment in this country. He is sending a message to these people, not with the amount of the fine... But by letting them witness the amount of public who are against them.
Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
just a fuckin disgrace plain and simple,just another example of the spineless fuckin country of ours,scared to upset anybody that might start shouting the racist card,a total and utter insult to all servicemen and women who have died defending this country
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Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:01 pm
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