and so they laughed outside of the court

[Bobbisox]

and held up a banner announcing Islam will take over the world !
these five poisoned minded individuals who jeered at British soldiers in Luton, found guilty of inciting hatred, wonder what meagre sentence will be handed down to them in a kidd glove ?

[sara3]

they've already been sentenced Bobbi.

"The five convicted men were given two-year conditional discharges and were ordered to pay costs of £500 each."

[beejay1124]

hang the c*nts

[Bobbisox]

thats a joke sara, but only to be expected, no wonder they were laughing ♥

[craft1948]

will they be paying the fine out of their benefits?

[Bobbisox]

very likely craft, so in retrospect we are paying it for them !

[sp1814]

Perhaps I've missed something here...I recall last year when this incident occurred, the general feeling on AB was "Muslims can get away with saying anything, and the police won't touch them".

Now it would appear that they can't!!!

Can any of the Dailymailers please explain this conundrum, as it's left me feeling both confused and smug.

[MarkRae]

OK, here's one for you to debate...

Are we as gullible or as easily led as the Germans were in the 1930s...?

How likely do you think it is that a hugely charismatic leader will emerge who will tell us that all our problems are due to Muslims, just like Hitler told his people with respect to the Jews...?

[Bobbisox]

I don't get the DM sp, so do you think their punishment fits the crime???
just curious

[craft1948]

Well I do get the DM but what that has to do with this subject is beyond me........

[Bobbisox]

coming back to my Qs mark, I think these 5 people got off very lightly, I would like to see a harsher sentences for them but then I would also hope the nutters who boarded a Emirates Aircraft and said they had a bomb,are dealt with severely too

[flip_flop]

Not at all likely MarkRae.

[Dodger666]

Assuming the Muslim march through Wootton Bassett goes ahead, I wonder what would happen if residents came out displaying banners saying "Christianity will rule the World, Islam can go hell?"

[sp1814]

Bobbisox

You know what? I absolutely don't know whether the punishment fits the crime. You know the running debate on free speech? I've always been offended by what comes out of some right wing parties and parts of the right wing press, but never once thought, "I find that offensive, therefore they should be brought to court".

For the record I find their stance offensive and fundamentally devisive. They are a stain the name of Islam and holding up those banners outside the court actually increases hatred for Muslims generally.

If rank stupidity was a crime, then they would be doing a twelve stretch.

But leaving that aside - the crime that they were convicted of is actually quite minor. It was using language likely to cause public offence, I believe.

Had they used racist language, the sentencing guidelines would've seen them fined a much higher amount.

So to answer your question - the sentences are actually probably right legally, but in terms of the amount of offence actually caused - probably not.

Minefield.

[jno]

so much for free speech in Britain then. In this nanny state you're not even allowed to point out that soldiers kill innocent people, even though soldiers have been doing just that for thousands of years. The poor dears of Luton are far too ready to take offence. (All these are arguments I have seen applied to Muslims on AB, so I guess they'll do here as well.)

[smudge]

Simple - the only reason they laughed before & after the sentencing, is because they knew the good old British system would take it lightly & give them a slapped wrist!

Even if they did it again, they would only be placed in one of our comfy prisons, with 3 meals a day & all the latest technonolgy to spurt more hatred on the www!

[smudge]

Exactly Dodger! ;o/

[Sandy-Wroe]

Those people voiced an opinion that isn't very popular. They're probably unaware that the right to say what you like, without the fear of the secret police taking an interest in you, was once one of our greatest liberties.
They should have been charged with some public order offence.
I think it's a shame they they were charged, and convicted, simply for speaking their minds.

[smudge]

"Freedom of Speech" - surely you mean "Freedom to spurt hatred".

Even the majority of the local passive Muslims, didn't agree with what they were doing!